Just a few weeks ago, Janneke Parrish, leader of the #AppleToo movement , filed a lawsuit for unfair labor practices against tech giant Apple, alleging that the company fired her in retaliation for organizing unions and demanding that workers’ labor rights be respected. , especially those related to compliance with and respect for working hours by the company, and the correct and fair remuneration of overtime.
Parrish joined the #AppleToo platform to help her colleagues voice their concerns with Apple’s culture of “pervasive sexism” and pay equity , according to the complaint. Then, at the end of October this year, she was fired, allegedly for not fulfilling her task as part of an investigation at her job into possible leaks of company information to the press.
Possible violation of labor rights
Parrish says the company fired her for “false and totally unfounded reasons,” that is, because she spoke about her personal experiences regarding concerns at her job and helped voice the concerns of her colleagues in a work environment. where such problems have been systematically silencing and isolating themselves, preventing them from being addressed and solved.
“It seems that all technology companies are using the same strategy manual,” said Parrish herself in an interview in the prestigious American newspaper The Washington Post . “They get rid of the auditors, and then claim that the workers are actually responsible for an alleged leak, without any evidence or documentation to prove it.”
The victim has always defended her innocence and ignores this hypothetical leak, also recalls that workers who, like her, have risen up against other technology giants such as Netflix or Google, are suffering a similar persecution.
This is the seventh unfair labor practices count that has been brought against Apple since August this year. Last month, former senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik accused Tim Cook of violating the US National Labor Relations Act when he warned employees that “people who leak confidential information do not belong to this company.”
Cher Scarlett, an Apple software engineer who created the #AppleToo movement, also filed a complaint in September alleging that the company prevented employees from participating in union activities when they tried to discuss their pay.
An employee of the AppleCare team, Apple’s customer service version, also filed a lawsuit on September 28 alleging that they were fired illegally and in a totally improper manner. This lawsuit has not yet been admitted, but there are already enough precedents, so Apple could be facing a real legal problem if it is shown that it habitually violates the rights of workers.
At the moment, the Supreme Court of the United States (something similar to the National Court in Spain) is investigating several complaints against the technology giant for similar reasons.
