Washington
CNN
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Apple violated workers
Apple illegally imposed rules on its employees that prohibit them from discussing their pay and engaging in other protected activities, according to National Labor Relations Board investigators.
Apple violated workers
Findings by NLRB officers determined that “various work rules, handbook rules, and confidentiality policies at Apple” are unlawful because they “reasonably tend to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees” who attempt to enforce their labor rights. work, NLRB spokeswoman Kayla Blado told CNN on Tuesday.
Apple violated workers
The investigation involved several allegations dating back to 2021, Blado said, some of which accused Apple of interfering with employees’ attempts to collect salary data and “repressive activity that enabled the abuse and harassment of organisers”. One of the charges claimed that Apple maintained “work rules that prohibit employees from discussing wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment.”
Apple declined to comment. The agency’s findings were first reported by Bloomberg.
Apple violated workers
The rulings could pressure Apple to settle the charges or risk being the subject of a formal complaint by NLRB prosecutors in an internal administrative law proceeding, which could result in a practice variation order. Apple business. The NLRB does not have the power to impose penalties, but can compel employers to implement “comprehensive remedies,” according to its website.
Apple violated workers
According to Bloomberg, the cases in question were brought by two former Apple employees, one of whom cited an email from CEO Tim Cook promising to crack down on information leaks within the company. Only some of the charges filed have been made public through Freedom of Information Act requests, and those available on the NLRB website are partially redacted. The content of the investigators’ findings has also not been made public.
But Blado said that as part of the investigation, a regional office of the NLRB “decided the merits of a charge alleging that statements and conduct by Apple – including high-level executives – also violated the National Labor Relations Act”.
Apple violated workers
The former employee who cited Cook’s email in her accusations, Ashley Gjovik, told CNN she has no intention of accepting a settlement offer from Apple because she hopes to force the company to admit that it has violated labor laws and to change the policies it applies to its workforce.
“They don’t just have a sense of impunity — they actually have it with these policies,” Gjovik said, pointing to multiple confidentiality clauses in Apple’s employee handbook that she says allow Apple to bully and intimidate workers into keeping quiet about workplace retaliation. “I want to get to the heart of the issues I’ve seen.”
Apple has previously clashed with the NLRB over its handling of workers seeking to unionize at its retail stores.
Apple has been hit by a complaint from the NLRB over allegations that it questioned employees about their support for a union and selectively banned the placement of pro-union flyers in a break room at an Apple store in New York. . Apple pushed back against those claims in a filing with the NLRB.
