The Nationwide Labor Relations Board has accused Apple of infringing on its staff’ rights to advocate for higher working circumstances. In a criticism noticed by Reuters, the company alleges Apple illegally fired an worker who had used Slack to advocate for office adjustments on the firm. Individually, the NLRB accuses Apple of forcing one other employee to delete a social media put up.
The case stems from a 2021 criticism filed by #AppleToo co-organizer Janneke Parrish. In October of that 12 months, Apple fired Parrish for allegedly sharing confidential data, a declare she denies. Per the criticism, Parrish used Slack and public social media posts to advocate for everlasting distant work.
She additionally shared open letters crucial of the tech large, distributed a pay fairness survey, and recounted cases of sexual and racial discrimination at Apple. Based on the labor board, Apple’s insurance policies bars staff from creating Slack channels with out first acquiring permission from a supervisor. As an alternative, employees should direct their office considerations to both administration or a “Folks Assist” group the corporate maintains. An instance of the kind of considerations some staff used Slack to voice may be seen in a 2021 tweet from former Apple worker Ashley Gjøvik.
“We sit up for holding Apple accountable at trial for implementing facially illegal guidelines and terminating staff for partaking within the core protected exercise of calling out gender discrimination and different civil rights violations that permeated the office,” Parrish’s lawyer, Laurie Burgess, advised Reuters.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to Engadget’s remark request.
Offered Apple doesn’t settle with the company, an preliminary listening to is scheduled for February with an administrative decide. The NLRB is trying to power the corporate to alter its coverage and reimburse Parrish for the monetary hardships she suffered resulting from her firing. Final week, the NLRB accused Apple of forcing staff to signal unlawful and overly broad confidentially, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements.
