Apple Employee Discrimination and Unequal Pay Lawsuit Investigation

Two women working for Apple in California have filed a lawsuit in 2024 alleging Apple systematically pays women less than men performing similar work. According to Courthouse News Service, Apple employee Justina Jong says she’s been paid less than male colleagues doing similar work in the retail and marketing division of the Worldwide Developer Relations/App Review team since as far back as 2012. Jong says she was also forced to continue working alongside a co-worker who sexually harassed her, according to the complaint.

Apple employee Amina Salgado, working for the AppleCare team as a development manager, reported being paid less than men in similar roles since 2013, according to Forbes. After repeatedly raising concerns about this gender pay gap, Apple eventually Apple hired a third-party firm that agreed with Salgado’s assessment; Apple finally raised her compensation but declined to provide backpay for the previous several years.

Asking for pay expectations from job applicants is also highlighted as a practice by Apple that allegedly perpetuates gender pay gaps, according to the complaint. In addition, Apple’s performance evaluation system is also criticized for being biased against women, according to the lawsuit.

Apple engineer Cher Scarlett filed a complaint alleging pay inequality, workplace harassment and retaliation with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on September 1, 2012, according to Bloomberg. Scarlett claims that Apple has repeatedly squashed employee attempts to discuss pay gaps, citing a recent incident where Apple had denied Scarlett’s request to start a Slack channel to discuss pay equity issues at the company, because they said it was “unrelated” to work. However, The Verge reports that Apple still allegedly allowed the creation of Slack channels to discuss topics like “dogs,” and “gaming,” leading many employees to believe that Apple was trying to suppress discussions about inequality and pay gaps. Under California labor laws, as well as many other state and federal labor laws, it’s unlawful for a company to prohibit or retaliate against its employees for asking about, or discussing, information related to wages.

Former Apple employee Ashley Gjøvik was placed on administrative leave in August 2021 after she expressed concerns about a variety of issues, including workplace safety, sexual harassment, and a hostile work environment, reports Business Insider. Before being placed on leave, Gjøvik told Gizmodo that her job duties as a senior engineering program manager were reduced, and then eventually assigned to someone else. Gjøvik filed a formal complaint against the company with the NLRB, on August 26, 2021.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Gjøvik said she “wants to pierce the veil of intimidation and secrecy,” because “employees are terrified to speak up about their concerns.” Both Scarlett’s and Gjøvik’s complaints are currently being reviewed by the National Labor Relations Board, reports Bloomberg.

Cher Scarlett, one of the employees who filed a formal complaint against the company, tweeted in August 2021 that Apple had shut down multiple employee attempts to conduct “pay transparency” surveys.

However, Scarlett was able to conduct a survey without it being taken down, and then posted the results and an early analysis of the data on Twitter. Only a small percentage of Apple employees opted to take the survey, but among those who did, there was around a 6% wage gap between male and female employees, as well as a gap between pay for white employees and employees of color. These potential findings stand in contrast with Apple’s announcement in 2016 that it had “closed the gender wage gap” for U.S. employees.

Inspired by the #MeToo Movement, a group of Apple workers have joined together to share stories of workplace inequality, including patterns of racism, sexism, and intimidation, in an effort to “demand systemic change” at Apple. The group’s #AppleToo website claims that “for far too long, Apple has evaded public scrutiny,” with Black, Indigenous, and employees from other marginalized backgrounds being disproportionately impacted.

Since launching the #AppleToo website and hashtag, hundreds of Apple employees have come forward with their experiences of discrimination and harassment, says Bloomberg. Former Apple employee Timnit Gebru told The Verge that she experienced “so many egregious things” while working at Apple, adding that:

“I’m happy to see that Apple workers are organizing. It is past time for Apple to be held accountable.”

On September 3, 2021, the #AppleToo organizers posted an open letter to CEO Tim Cook and other executives, calling on them to re-investigate past complaints of discrimination, racism, and harassment.

Whether you choose to publicly share your story or not, you shouldn’t have to stand for discrimination in the workplace. Contact our employment attorneys to discuss your rights and options.