Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An Apple employee has filed a lawsuit against the company for allegedly spying on workers through their personal iCloud accounts.
- The lawsuit claims Apple forces employees to merge their personal and professional digital lives, giving the company access to private information on their devices.
- Apple denies the claims, stating that employees have the right to discuss their working conditions and that it strongly disagrees with the lawsuit’s allegations.
Apple, the tech giant that has built its reputation on safeguarding customer privacy, is now facing a lawsuit that claims its own employees aren’t getting the same treatment. Amar Bhakta, an employee in Apple’s advertising technology division, has accused the company of prying into workers’ personal lives through iCloud accounts and non-work devices. (h/t: Semafor)
Filed in California state court this past Sunday, Bhakta’s lawsuit alleges that Apple expects its employees to give up their privacy as part of the job. The company, he claims, reserves the right to monitor workers through video, physical surveillance, and electronic tracking — even when they’re off the clock or no longer working at Apple. The lawsuit also mentions that Apple discouraged him from public speaking about his field of expertise and even forced him to sanitize his LinkedIn profile to remove references to his role.
Unsurprisingly, Apple disagrees. In the statement below, the company said it supports employees’ rights to discuss their working conditions, including pay and hours, as outlined in its business conduct policy. According to Apple, every employee receives training on this policy annually.
“Every employee has the right to discuss their wages, hours and working conditions and this is part of our business conduct policy, which all employees are trained on annually,”
The heart of the issue seems to be Apple’s policy of requiring employees to use Apple devices for work, which, combined with restrictions on company-owned devices, often leads employees to use their personal iPhones and Macs. This, in turn, necessitates the use of personal iCloud accounts, allegedly exposing personal data to company scrutiny.
For employees who’d rather not have their personal lives exposed, the alternative isn’t much better. The suit claims Apple “actively discourages” setting up separate iCloud accounts for work purposes, making it nearly impossible to avoid this blending of work and personal data.
The case has been filed under the California Private Attorneys General Act, allowing employees to sue on behalf of the state for labor violations. If the court rules against Apple, the company could face steep penalties tied to the number of employees impacted.
This case is likely to be closely watched, as it could have significant implications for employee privacy rights at tech companies and beyond. Big firms have long been criticized for blurring the boundaries between work and personal life, and this case could set a precedent for how far employers can push those limits.
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