Apple is accused by the US Labor Department of introducing illegal workplace rules

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) – A U.S. labor regulator has filed a complaint accusing Apple of violating workers' rights to organize and advocate for better working conditions by maintaining a series of unlawful workplace rules.

The National Labor Relations Board alleges in the complaint released late Monday that Apple required employees nationwide to sign unlawful confidentiality, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements and imposed overly broad misconduct and social media policies.

The complaint accuses Apple of “obstructing, restricting, and coercing employees from exercising” their rights under federal labor law.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If Apple doesn't settle the claims, the case will be heard by an administrative law judge starting in January. The agency wants to require Apple to repeal the allegedly illegal rules and inform its entire U.S. workforce of their legal rights.

The administrative law judges' decisions can be reviewed by the five-member labor board, whose decisions can be appealed to federal appeals courts.

The complaint stems from allegations made against Apple in 2021 by Ashley Gjovik, a former senior technical manager at the company. Gjovik said that various Apple rules, including those on confidentiality and social media use, prevent employees from discussing issues such as pay equity and gender discrimination with each other and in the media.

Gjovik also filed a lawsuit in California federal court in May accusing Apple of unlawfully retaliating against her for filing the NLRB complaints and trying to organize other workers. Apple has denied wrongdoing and asked that the case be dismissed.

The company faces at least two other pending NLRB cases alleging that it fired an employee at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters for criticizing managers and unlawfully interfered in a union drive at an Atlanta retail store mixed in. The company has denied wrongdoing.

The NLRB ruled in May that the manager of an Apple Store in Manhattan unlawfully interrogated an employee about his support for a union. Two Apple Stores in the US have unionized since 2022, and unions are working to organize several more locations.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)