The U.S. National Labor Relations board accused Apple of interfering with staff’ rights to collectively advocate for higher working circumstances by limiting their use of social media and office messaging app Slack, the company stated on Friday.
The NLRB grievance, issued on Thursday, accuses the iPhone maker of sustaining illegal work guidelines across the acceptable makes use of of Slack, illegally firing an worker who advocated for office modifications on Slack, requiring one other employee to delete a social media publish, and creating the impression that staff have been being surveilled through social media.
This is the second time the NLRB has hit Apple with a grievance this month. Last week, the company accused the corporate of requiring staff nationwide to signal unlawful confidentiality, nondisclosure, and noncompete agreements and of imposing overly broad misconduct and social media insurance policies.
Apple in an announcement supplied by a spokesperson on Friday stated it’s dedicated to sustaining “a positive and inclusive workplace” and takes worker complaints critically.
“We strongly disagree with these claims and can proceed to share the information on the listening to,” the company said.
In response to last week’s complaint, Apple denied wrongdoing and said it respects its employees’ rights to discuss wages, hours and working conditions.
If Apple does not settle with the NLRB, an administrative judge will hold an initial hearing in the case in February. The judge’s decision can be reviewed by the five-member labor board, whose rulings can be appealed in federal court.
The new case stems from a complaint filed with the NLRB nearly three years ago by Janneke Parrish, who says Apple fired her in 2021 for playing a lead role in employee activism.
Parrish used Slack and public social media outlets to advocate for permanent remote work, distribute a pay equity survey, detail alleged sex and race discrimination at Apple and post open letters critical of the company, according to the new complaint.
Slack, which allows workers to create group conversations, was rolled out several years ago at Apple and became increasingly popular as a discussion forum during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NLRB complaint says Apple has a policy barring workers from creating new Slack channels without permission from managers. Posts about workplace concerns must be directed to a manager or a “People Support” group, according to the complaint.
Parrish’s lawyer, Laurie Burgess, said in an email on Friday that Apple had engaged in “in depth violations” of workers’ rights.
“We look ahead to 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,” Burgess stated.
The grievance seeks an order requiring Apple to rescind its allegedly illegal insurance policies and reimburse Parrish for misplaced revenue and different monetary impacts of her firing.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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