A new lawsuit filed under California law alleges that Apple monitors its employees’ devices and iCloud accounts while restricting discussions about pay and working conditions. The lawsuit allows workers to sue on behalf of the state and keep 35% of any penalties recovered.
Amar Bhakta, an employee in Apple’s digital advertising division, filed the lawsuit in California state court on Sunday. He accuses Apple of requiring employees to install software on their devices for work purposes. This software allegedly allows Apple to access employees’ emails, photo libraries, health data, and “smart home” data.
The complaint also claims that Apple enforces confidentiality policies prohibiting employees from discussing working conditions with the media or participating in legally protected whistleblowing activities.
Bhakta, who has worked at Apple since 2020, asserts that the company barred him from speaking about his job on podcasts and instructed him to remove information about his working conditions from his LinkedIn profile.
The lawsuit argues that “Apple’s surveillance policies and practices chill and thus also unlawfully restrain employee whistleblowing, competition, freedom of employee movement in the job market, and freedom of speech.”
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In response, an Apple spokesperson said the claims lack merit, noting that Apple trains its employees annually on their rights to discuss working conditions.
“At Apple, we’re focused on creating the best products and services in the world, and we work to protect the inventions our teams create for customers,” the company stated.
Additionally, Bhakta’s lawyers represent two women who sued Apple in June for allegedly underpaying female employees in engineering, marketing, and AppleCare divisions. They have expressed their commitment to inclusion and pay equity.
Apple is also facing at least three complaints from a US labour board, which claims the company illegally discourages employees from discussing issues such as gender bias and pay discrimination, including social media and Slack restrictions. Apple has denied these allegations.
