The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld the complaints that senior-level executives at Apple violated national labor laws. This finding comes after the NLRB also found that Apple illegally interfered in the organization of labor at retail stores in the city of New York and Atlanta.
These charges were filed by Ashley Gjovika former senior engineer program manager at Apple.
In an email to londonbusinessblog.com, Gjøvik explained that Apple’s employment policies “coercively silence Apple employees and deter them from engaging in protected activities through overly broad and vague terms, as well as an implication of constant surveillance.”
Gjøvik filed a number of documents as part of her NLRB complaint, including an email from CEO Tim Cook. After a journalist tweeted live At an Apple All Hands meeting in September 2021, Cook sent a memo to staff expressing his frustration over leaks to the media.
“I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to identify those who leaked. As you know, we do not tolerate the disclosure of confidential information, whether product IP or the details of a confidential meeting,” Cook wrote. “We know that the speakers are a small number of people. We also know that people who leak confidential information do not belong here.”
A representative from the NLRB told londonbusinessblog.com that work rules, handbook rules, and confidentiality rules at Apple “tend to interfere, restrict, or coerce employees from exercising their right to protected coordinated activities,” according to these findings. According to labor law, this is “protected consultationActivity refers to actions such as speaking to the media or talking openly with colleagues about pay and benefits, among other things. It is illegal for employers to threaten or question employees about their participation in this conduct.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the NLRB’s findings.
Even while working at Apple, Gjøvik spoke out against sexism she experienced in the workplace, as well as the ways Apple monitors its employees. Last year, londonbusinessblog.com reported on whistleblower complaints from Gjøvik about Gobbler (aka Glimmer), an app that collects biometric data; this was apparently part of the product development process for Face ID. According to the complaint she filed with international supervisory authorities, Gjøvik was made to feel that testing the Gobbler app was mandatory.
“Apple pressured employees to upload their ‘faceprint data’ to Apple’s internal servers, capturing secret photos and videos of employees, and told employees that face-related logs were automatically uploaded daily from their iPhones,” Gjøvik claimed at the time . She added that it was not clear what data of hers was uploaded and which organizations within the Apple corporate structure had access to her personal information. As reported The VergeApple employees are often systematically prevented from maintaining separate work and personal cell phones and Apple IDs.
Gjøvik was fired from Apple in September 2021 for leaking confidential information; she told londonbusinessblog.com she believes she was fired in retaliation afterward report to the EPA that her office was built on the wax triple site from toxic waste in Silicon Valleywhere cracks in the floor exposed workers to carcinogenic fumes.
The NLRB has not yet ruled on Gjøvik’s complaints that she was illegally fired in retaliation for speaking out about working conditions.