Apple Sends Memo to Employees Telling Them They Can Now Discuss Working Conditions and Pay

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 21 November 2021, 10:11 am

Apple has announced that its employees can now discuss the working conditions in the company and their respective salaries. This announcement came after activists questioned how much the employees earn in the tech company.

The decision was sent to the employees through a memo.

Apple Employees Can Talk About Working Conditions

A previous story from NBC News said that Apple has claimed that its employees in the United States have gotten equal pay for equal work since 2016.

However, the tech giant had quietly shut down any attempts by employees to validate the claim. This was backed by the stories from two former employees and two current employees.

Now, Apple has given employees the green light to talk about their salary and concerns outside the office. This is a massive shift for the secretive tech company.

Also Read: Apple Will Require Unvaccinated Employees to Undergo COVID-19 Tests Daily When Reporting to Work

The memo was posted on Apple's internal people site, where tech company's 80,000 hourly and salaried employees in the U.S. have access, according to Reuters.

According to the memo, Apple's policies do not restrict its employees from talking about their pay, hours, or working conditions. The company encourages employees to talk about them to their respective managers.

The memo follows the private sector that the employees fall under, the National Labor Relations Act, which allows employees to organize and talk about their hours and their wages.

The memo has the same language used in Apple's conduct policy. Apple's policy states that nothing should be interpreted as restrictive of an employee's right to speak freely about their working conditions.

Apple refused to add the same language to the agreements between the company and the employees when a group of activities and shareholders asked them, according to Engadget.

The memo serves as a win for Cher Scarlett, an Apple organizer, who said in a National Labor Relations Board charge that the company had restricted their ability to talk about working conditions and pay by shutting down informal pay surveys and blocking a pay equity Slack channel.

Cases Against Apple

Since August, Apple was accused by eight employees of unlawful discharge and harassment, and they've filed charges against the company. One of the cases has been dismissed.

In September, two employees were placed on leave after they talked about the working conditions in Apple.

The NLRB, the federal agency that oversees the labor law in the United States, is investigating the remaining seven charges. If any of the charges end up being credible, the tech giant will have to post a notice affirming employees that they can talk about their condition.

Veena Dubal, a professor at the University of California, said that the memo is a win for employees because it shows that Apple knows they would have lost had this been adjudicated. However, the memo also underscores how little employees get when their rights are violated.

For months, Apple workers have been pushing back at the lack of transparency about employees' earnings.

Apple's inclusion page states that employees of all genders earn the same when doing the same work. But employees who conducted internal surveys found wage gaps, and Apple refused to investigate.