Apple will no longer prohibit its employees from speaking out about issues of harassment and discrimination in the workplace by revising its non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
Last year, the company failed to make the proposed changes, and in March 2022, Apple shareholders did vote to approve an independent review.
The tech giant’s memo states that “employees have the right to speak freely about their workplace conditions, including harassment and discrimination.” The company also notes that an independent reviewer found only provisions in the NDA that could be “interpreted to limit a person’s ability to speak about such behavior in some cases” and that Apple “committed not to apply these restrictions in the future.” The company already includes the language of California’s Silenced No More Act in the severance agreement for employees in the US.
The Silenced No More Act has been in effect since 2022 in California and Washington and gives employees the right to freely disclose any facts of discrimination and rights violations. In particular, regarding illegal hiring practices, violation of payment conditions, work regime. All nondisclosure agreements that include prohibited clauses must be reviewed. Otherwise, the company may receive a fine of US$10,000.
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Apple’s use of NDA provisions to prohibit speaking out about discrimination and harassment came under scrutiny with the firing of #AppleToo organizer and former Apple engineer Cher Scarlett.
Some former and current employees of the company joined the group and invited colleagues to share their stories about discrimination, harassment and harassment they faced at the company. Last year, a team called AppleToo said it had collected 500 such stories. The stories involved sexual harassment, both by management and customers, as well as racial discrimination and ableism
Ableism is systemic discrimination against people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
As the Insider article notes, Scarlett claimed that Apple prevented her from detailing the firing as part of a non-disclosure agreement. The woman later said she was leaving the company voluntarily, unlike other organizers who were fired from Apple after speaking out.
Friday is my last day at Apple.
I’m taking a bit of time to decide where I’d like to go next, and will announce when I’ve made that decision.
?
– Cher Scarlett (@cherthedev) November 17, 2021
A few months later, a group of officials called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Apple was using its NDAs to silence employees.
“We are pleased to announce that Apple has released its report and is ending the use of non-disclosure clauses in employee contracts for both domestic and foreign employees. This is a groundbreaking step for the technology industry,” Nia Impact Capital wrote on Twitter, noting that contract workers were also included in the list.
Do you think that @Apple has been notified of their report & is an indication to assess declarations for contract workers as domestic & for international workers. Contract employees too! This represents a major shift obstacle for the tech industry.
— Nia Impact Capital (@NiaInvest) December 9, 2022
Source: The Verge
