From today’s Bloomberg News:
Comments by Apple Inc. executives and policies imposed on employees have been deemed illegal by US National Labor Relations Board prosecutors, who say they violate workersâ rights.
The NLRB general counselâs office has determined that âvarious work rulesâ imposed by the tech giant âtend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employeesâ from exercising their rights to collective action, spokesperson Kayla Blado said Monday. The agency âfound merit to a charge alleging statements and conduct by Apple â including high-level executives â also violated the National Labor Relations Act.â
Unless Apple settles, the boardâs regional director will issue a complaint against the Cupertino, California-based company, Blado said in an email.
The dispute was brought to the agency by former employee Ashley Gjovik, who filed claims in 2021 alleging that an email Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook sent pledging to punish leakers, as well as a set of policies in Appleâs employee handbook, violated federal law. Gjovikâs filings cited policies restricting staff from disclosing âbusiness information,â talking to reporters, revealing co-workersâ compensation or posting impolite tweets.
In his all-staff email, sent in September 2021, Cook wrote that âpeople who leak confidential information do not belong here.â Cookâs message said that Apple was âdoing everything in our power to identify those who leakedâ and that it didnât âtolerate disclosures of confidential information, whether itâs product IP or the details of a confidential meeting.â
Read the complete story here.