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| Elon Musk |
On October 30, a class action lawsuit was filed in Orange County, California, alleging that Elon Musk’s America PAC and several other defendants, including the reelection campaign for Representative Michelle Steel (a Republican from California), violated California labor law. This lawsuit, according to court documents obtained by *WIRED*, accuses the defendants of failing to pay promised wages to two named plaintiffs, Tamiko Anderson and Patricia Kelly, who served as canvassers for Steel in October.
The lawsuit implicates America PAC for its role in managing campaign services for Steel. However, a spokesperson for Steel’s campaign stated that the campaign does not know these individuals and has no involvement with America PAC, a Super PAC.
These allegations are separate from earlier reports of Michigan canvassers who, as *WIRED* detailed, alleged coercion and deceptive practices by a subcontractor for America PAC during a get-out-the-vote effort supporting Donald Trump. These canvassers claimed they were transported in the back of a U-Haul and were threatened with hotel costs if they failed to meet high quotas, only realizing upon arrival that their work supported Trump.
Additional defendants include The Blair Group, a North Carolina-based political consultancy, and Liberty Staffing Services, a Florida-based firm for staffing and payroll, which were both named in the complaint but did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The suit also lists unnamed John Does as defendants.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs were promised hourly wages but claim they were instead paid based on canvassing quotas and still have not received the owed underpaid wages. Further allegations state they were not reimbursed for required apps on their personal devices and that hours tracked on their phones were left uncompensated.
America PAC, which has received over $100 million from Musk, is heavily involved in get-out-the-vote campaigns for Trump, focusing on swing states. Reports from multiple sources describe the PAC’s efforts as disorganized. In addition to *WIRED*’s report from Michigan, *The Guardian* indicated that up to 25 percent of door-knocking activities may be fraudulent, and *NBC* reported concerns within campaign circles about questionable data quality. In an election expected to be tightly contested, disorganized field operations could impact the final outcome.
Neither Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, nor representatives from X (which Musk owns), America PAC, or The Blair Group provided immediate responses to requests for comment.
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