Apple employee sues company for allegedly spying on personal employee devices
- Apple is facing claims of illegal surveillance of employees in a new lawsuit
- The lawsuit claims that employees also can’t talk about working conditions
- Separate complaints concern pay differences based on gender
An employee is suing Apple on behalf of the State of California for allegedly illegally monitoring employees’ devices and accounts, while also hampering their freedom of expression by limiting their discussions about compensation and working conditions.
The lawsuit, filed by Amar Bhakta, alleges that software to be installed on employees’ personal devices gives Apple excessive permission to access personal emails, along with photo libraries and data about their health.
Bhakta filed the lawsuit after Apple asked him to remove details about his working conditions from his LinkedIn page and stopped him from talking about his work on a podcast.
Appellate lawsuit
“Apple’s surveillance policies and practices unlawfully restrict employee whistleblowing, competition, employees’ freedom of movement in the employment market, and freedom of expression,” the lawsuit said.
Apple reportedly prefers its employees to use Apple devices for work purposes, but many employees prefer to use their own devices over the highly limited, work-provided devices – but to do this the employees install a piece of software that gives Apple permission to search all devices for files on the device.
In response to the lawsuit, Apple released a statement claiming the case was without merit, saying: “At Apple, we are focused on creating the best products and services in the world and working to protect the inventions that power our creating teams for clients. ”
The same lawyers filing Bhakta’s claim also represent two employees who are suing Apple for gender-discriminatory pay gaps for women in Apple’s tech, marketing and AppleCare sectors. Apple has also recently faced complaints that employees are illegally prevented from discussing gender bias and pay discrimination – complaints for which Apple has denied any wrongdoing.
Via Reuters