One of the goals of #AppleToo is to ensure that all those who have not had a voice, all those who sought help and found none, get a voice. Each of the stories included in this digest was submitted by a current or former Apple employee. These stories represent a systemic issue and the need to do better.
We further emphasise that attempting to silence one voice does not silence the voices of all those who suffered, nor does it erase or delegitimise the stories we are sharing. We will continue to share these stories in the hopes that Apple will create a better environment for all its employees, and will be sharing them until we receive resolution.
It is our hope that in sharing these stories, we can bring some resolution. We are honoured to share these stories, and by the trust that each story represents. Even one story is too many. Each story is a person who suffered, and in many cases, continued to suffer in a hostile environment.
We are publishing these stories in batches of five because the emotional weight of them is substantial. They represent five parts of the larger story of systemic issues that must be addressed.
Racism and ableism in employee and customer support
I was told by management not to waste my time on applying for a different position, because It would just been interview practice. I asked for more info was advised that I wasn’t ready for more responsibilities because of my “ Mental Condition “?. At my store when a position opens up the job post is just for formality. They had already told the person to apply and unofficially advised of job promotion until job post expires.
Also, Im the only hispanic. Hispanic customer were being put on a side line to be helped by me? I find that a bit racist as we can all help everyone specially using a translator: but the only Spanish speaking employee has to work with both english and Spanish at the same time.
They always talk about diversity, yet they don’t care about little me. My skills aren’t valuable by management.
Last, Ive customer requested to speak to someone that speaks english. As a second language speaker, It wasn’t easy to know as much english as I know after being here for 18 years. We all deserve an equal opportunity no matter your race, skin color or with a mental disorder.
Sexism, racism, and abuse
I was terrorized for about a year by a male colleague, and cried speaking to my manager about it nearly every week. He used racial slurs, which I called out to him and others, was very demeaning to women, and told everyone that would listen how aggressive and hard to work with I was. This never went to HR, but instead my manager asked me to continually have conversations with him to work out our differences. Since he was a narcissist in the most classic sense, this worked great for him and horribly for me. After multiple women on my team eventually came forward and basically said “him or us”, he was “asked to quit”. So, instead of having any sort of mark on his record, he was allowed to take all of his accrued PTO after quitting as a payout.
Sexism in career advancement and HR resolutions
I was sexually harassed by a much older male worker on my first day of training in Apple retail. When I had a mediated conversation with him, he asked me to teach him what is and isn’t okay to say to women. I wish I had left then. I saw countless male colleagues given career opportunities freely while female workers like myself had to have multiple conversations and extensive documentation to prove that we were working towards certain career goals. I had a male coworker given a full-time position I was also interested in without any interview process — including posting the position. Male coworkers are often given exceptions — like the man given a store career experience only three months after completing another store CE. I was denied the opportunity to apply to a corporate CE because I was told I needed to work on my composure — a reference to me crying during work after being denied time off because I had “too many requests in a quarter” (this time off was for addressing medical needs I had not wanted to disclose to management and was not aware of intermittent absence protection). The tipping point was when I was accused of making several people uncomfortable for discussing Apple’s discriminatory interview and hiring practices. It was a large group conversation and no one expressed any discomfort to me during or after it. I had to take a leave of absence because I was so distressed and felt like I had no protection from retaliation or a hostile work environment. I have since left Apple.
No pay for medical leave
I was placed on a medical leave in the beginning of 2021. I was informed by Sedgwick that though my leave is approved I will not get paid for the time I’m off. I insisted with my doctor to release me. He reluctantly did, with restrictions. It’s been over two months and I am not back to work, Sedgwick says they don’t have the right paper work, and Apple tells me they don’t have a place for me at this time. I’ve still not been paid, and don’t know what to do.
Unaddressed sexual harassment
I was pressured into answering a sexually-charged question in front of a group of colleagues. When I confronted HR regarding this issue, I was essentially told that the matter was he said/she-said, despite having no less than 10 witnesses to speak on the occurrence.
