Apple has been is accused of illegally monitoring its employees’ personal iPhones and iCloud accounts.
A lawsuit was filed California The court on Sunday is Amar Bhakta, who has been working in digital marketing at Apple since 2020.
Bhakta said that workers are required to install software on their devices which provides access to their email, photo libraries, health and ‘smart home’ data and other personal information.
The complaint also states that Apple prohibits employees from discussing work conditions, disclose payment information or report suspected violations.
‘Apple’s monitoring systems are freezing, and therefore illegal self-regulation, employee whistle-blowing, competition, workers’ rights in the labor market, and freedom of speech,’ the lawsuit said.
A spokesperson for Apple has said that he strongly disagrees with what he said in the lawsuit.
“Each employee has the right to discuss their wages, hours and working conditions and this is part of our business management policy, which all employees are trained in every year,” he said.
An Apple employee is suing the giant for allegedly illegally monitoring staff’s iPhones
All California workers have the right to speak about their wages and working conditions,” said Jahan Sagafi, Partner at Outten & Golden LLP who is representing the plaintiff.
“Your voice is one of the most important tools you have in the fight against discrimination and other corporate wrongdoing. Apple’s anti-speech policies have perpetuated unchallenged discrimination for far too long, harming both Apple employees and many Californians.”
A new case it was filed under a special law in California that allows workers to sue their employers on behalf of the state and keep 35 percent of any penalties they receive.
Bhakta’s lawyers are also representing two women who filed a lawsuit in June accusing Apple of underpaying female employees in its engineering, sales, and AppleCare divisions.
Apple has said it is committed to inclusive and fair payment.
Bhakta said she was banned from discussing her work on podcasts and was instructed to remove information about her work from her LinkedIn profile.
‘In accordance with Apple’s policy, he requested permission to speak publicly about his area of expertise: Digital Marketing. Apple banned it,” the document reads.
The complaint states that the company ‘requires employees to acknowledge that they have no privacy rights in Private Life Data.’
This means that, according to the lawsuit, ‘Apple can monitor them physically, video, and electronically and that, as it wants, search Apple and non-Apple devices and other assets while the employee is in the company. place.”
California labor laws prohibit employers from controlling non-work related aspects of their employees’ lives.
‘For Apple employees, the Apple environment is not a walled garden. It’s a prison yard. A show where employees, both employed and unemployed, are controlled by Apple,” the lawsuit said.
Mr Bhakta cited ‘Apple’s Non-Speech Policy’ as a key part of his complaint, saying that employees are not allowed to discuss with co-workers about problems at work.
This includes ‘unfair treatment, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and even rape.’
“Similarly, Apple’s Non-Speech Policy prohibits Apple employees from reporting compensation issues, including lower or lower pay for people of color, women, older workers, or any other group,” the lawsuit said.
‘The secrecy allows the offense to continue.’
The complaint accuses Apple of publicly declaring it respects human rights, but ‘does not extend this respect to its employees.’
Apple recently The defendant is a group of consumers What? which said the giant breached competition law by ‘forcing its iCloud services on customers.’
The complaint alleges that Apple has encouraged users to sign up for iCloud to store photos, videos and other information, thus favoring its products, while at the same time making it difficult to use other products, and hindering competition.
What? It is said that Apple does not allow customers to store or store all the data of their phone with a third party, and users of its iOS system have to pay for the service when the amount of data being stored exceeds the limit of 5GB.
