Apple accused of violating labor laws, again

Apple has been accused of violating union rights, according to a complaint filed by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The complaint, filed in May by the NLRB and released Monday, accused Apple of several federal labor law violations, including “coercively interrogating employees about their union sympathies;” “confiscating union flyers from its employee break room,” and “interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees” from exercising their rights.

It’s not the first time Apple has been accused by a US labor board of trying to illegally stop efforts to unionize. In 2021, the company was accused of interrogating workers and barring them from leaving pro-union flyers in a break room in a Manhattan store.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.

The most recent complaint is the result of a lawsuit filed last year by Ashley Gjovik, a former Apple senior engineering manager who was “terminated” in 2021, and Cher Scarlett, who accused the company of forbidding employees from discussing wages and employment conditions.

Scarlett agreed to leave Apple and drop her NLRB complaint. Scarlett was one of the founders of the #AppleToo movement, a whistleblower group that alleged racism, sexism, and inequality at the company.

Last year, after an attempt to unionize failed at another Manhattan store, the NLRB affirmed an administrative law judge’s findings that Apple illegally interrogated workers at the store about unionization efforts and prevented them from sharing pro-union flyers. A complaint was also filed by Gjovik in a California federal court alleging Apple illegally fired, disciplined, threatened, and interrogated her for engaging in protected union activity at its headquarters in Cupertino, CA.

The NLRB complaint calls on Apple to stop the violating practices and post notices in workplaces showing agency has found it violated Federal labor law and saying Apple agrees to now obey those laws.

Apple also faces at least two other pending NLRB cases claiming it fired an employee at its headquarters for criticizing managers and illegally interfered with a union campaign at a retail store in Atlanta, according to Reuters.

More on past Apple labor law violations:

Life in the iPhone factories: Apple suppliers still breaking labor laws, report

U.S. law allows low H-1B wages; just look at Apple

Apple supplier Pegatron charged with overworking employees

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