Apple is being sued by a worker after being accused of spying on its staff through their own iClouds and personal devices, and breaking other laws.
The California suit alleged that the company can “engage in physical, video and electronic surveillance of them” via employment policies, even when they’re off the clock, first reported by Semafor.
The lawsuit, filed by advertising tech employee Amar Bhakta, claimed that the company violated California law in multiple ways including by restraining employees speech and violating privacy.
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“In marketing materials, Apple declares that it respects human rights, including the right to privacy,” read the suit. “Apple does not extend this respect to its own employees.”
Bhakta, who has worked at Apple since 2020, also said that privacy policies made him remove his Apple employment details off LinkedIn and wouldn’t let him publicly speak about digital advertising.
“In accordance with Apple’s policy, he asked for permission to engage in public speaking about his area of expertise: Digital Advertising,” the suit read. “Apple forbade it.”
Bhakta, who is represented by Jahan C. Sagafi from Outten and Golden, as well as Chris Baker from Baker Dolinko & Schwartz, said in a press release: “I hope this complaint causes Apple to change their approach to monitoring employees outside of work and reminds employees that they have the power to stand up too.”
The suit said that the “confidentiality restriction in Apple’s employment agreement limits employees’ freedom to speak about their work and Apple’s business... which restricts them from using their own skills and knowledge, developed at Apple, both in a job search and after hire.”
Apple said in a statement to The Verge: “Every employee has the right to discuss their wages, hours and working conditions and this is part of our business conduct policy, which all employees are trained on annually. We strongly disagree with these claims and believe they lack merit.”
“By Apple’s design, most employees instead use a personal iPhone for work reasons,” the suit said. “Apple then claims the right to access, search and use all the Private Life Data contained on the Apple devices Apple compels its employees to use.”
The lawsuit then refers to Apple as a prison yard, and said that all staff, whether working or not, are “subject to Apple’s all-seeing eye.”
Sagafi said in the release, “Apple’s broad speech suppression policies create a danger of discrimination going unchallenged far too long, which harms all Apple employees.”
