An Apple employee who led fellow workers in publicly sharing instances of what they called harassment and discrimination at the company on Thursday said that she had been fired.
Janneke Parrish, an Apple program manager, said the iPhone maker told her on Thursday that she had been terminated for deleting material on company equipment while she was under investigation over the leak of a company town hall to media, which she told the New York Times she did not do.
Parrish told Reuters she deleted apps that contained details of her finances and other personal information before handing them in to Apple as part of the investigation.
Parrish believes she was fired for activism at the workplace.
To me, this seems clearly retaliatory to the fact that I was speaking out about abuses that have happened at my employer, pay equity and, generally, about our workplace conditions, she said.
Apple said friday that it does not discuss specific employee matters.
The recent Apple employee unrest was one of the high-profile examples of this. Last month, two Apple employees told Reuters they had filed charges https: www.reuters.com/apple. com technology us-national labor relations - union-investigating, two-complaints - apple-workers - 2021 - 09 - 02 against the company with National Labor Relations Board. The workers accused Apple of retaliation and halting discussion of pay among employees, among other allegations.
Apple has stated that it is deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace and that it takes all concerns from employees seriously.
U.S. law protects the right of employees to openly discuss certain topics, including working conditions, discrimination and equal pay.
Parrish said she was careful to respect company rules and never shared information that she believed to be confidential. She said she continued to publish the AppleToo digest after being under investigation at the end of September.
If anything, it's made the importance of that work clearer than ever when Apple's response to criticism is to start internal investigations into the people that it wants to see gone, she said. It's easier for them to terminate people than it is for them to listen.