Former Apple engineer and organizer of the #AppleToo movement, Cher Scarlett has refused to withdraw her complaint filed at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the tech giant.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scarlett initiated discussions on Apple’s pay equity, and when she was shut down multiple times, Scarlett organized against the company by starting the movement to hold the company accountable with current and former employees and shared stories of discrimination faced by employees. She also filed a complaint against the tech giant at the U.S. National Labor Relations Board that the company does not allow open discussion on pay.
In November, Scarlett settled her matters with the tech giant. Without disclosing the terms of the settlement, her lawyer informed the press that she will be leaving the company and withdrawing her NLRB complaint.
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Scarlett told Forbes that Apple did not comply with the agreed terms of the settlement to publically acknowledge the employees’ right to discuss their salaries and for that reason, she is not going to withdraw her complaint with the NLRB. She said:
“One of the requests I made was for there to be a very public, visible affirmation that employees are allowed to discuss their workplace conditions and compensation, both internally and externally,” Scarlett said in a phone interview on Thursday.
Apple did publish language on its internal human resources page acknowledging employees’ rights to discuss pay, but it was posted on November 19, the Friday before the company’s annual Thanksgiving vacation. “It was only up for a week that they gave everybody in the company off. Further, it was removed by the following Monday when most people were back at work.
She told that the tech giant also refused to change the “suppressive” language used in her settlement, as requested by the NLRB.
In one paragraph of the settlement document, Apple requested that Scarlett “not solicit, encourage or incite anyone to file any charge or complaint with any administrative agency or Court against Apple,” for one year following the execution of the settlement. The NLRB requested that Apple strike “encourage or incite” from that paragraph.
Earlier, Scarlett broke her silence on being forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) after the tech giant claimed that it does not use NDS to silence departing employees. She also filed a complaint at the SEC accusing Apple of using “false or misleading statements.”
