US National Labor Relations Board Accuses Apple of Infringing on Employees’ Rights

The US National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) has accused Apple of violating employees’ rights to organise and advocate for better workplace conditions.

The complaint, filed on Thursday, accused the company of enforcing illegal work rules on Slack, illegally firing an employee who advocated for workplace changes, and requiring another worker to delete a social media post.

The case is based on a 2021 complaint that co-organizer of #AppleToo Janneke Parrish filed.

Parrish advocated for permanent remote work using Slack and public social media posts, and Apple fired her in October of that year for allegedly sharing confidential information—a claim she disputes.

“We strongly disagree with these claims and will continue to share the facts at the hearing,” the company said.

This is the second time this month that the NLRB has brought legal action against Apple.

The government accused the business last week of enforcing unlawful nondisclosure, noncompete, and confidentiality agreements on all of its employees nationwide as well as enforcing excessively stringent social media and misconduct policies.

In a statement released on Friday by a representative, Apple stated that it takes employee complaints seriously and is dedicated to upholding “a positive and inclusive workplace.”

An administrative judge will hold the case’s initial hearing in February if Apple and the NLRB are unable to reach a settlement.

The five-member labour board may examine the judge’s decision, and its decisions may be appealed in federal court.

We earlier reported that Apple is no longer planning to invest in OpenAI.