Cher Scarlett, a former Apple engineer and #AppleToo organizer Cher Scarlett, tells Forbes that she’s no longer withdrawing her National Labor Relations Board complaint against Apple. The complaint alleges that the tech giant retaliated against employees who discussed pay, hours or working conditions.
She quit in November after reaching a “private settlement” with the company. As part of the resolution, Scarlett agreed to withdraw her September complaint and would receive a one-year severance package. Apple, in turn, agreed to publicly acknowledge employees’ rights to discuss their salaries. However, Scarlett tells Forbes the company has failed to execute in good faith.
“One of the requests I made was for there to be a very public, visible affirmation that employees are allowed to discuss their workplace conditions and compensation, both internally and externally,” Scarlett said in a phone interview. Apple did publish language on its internal human resources page acknowledging employees’ rights to discuss pay, but it was posted on November 19, the Friday before the company’s annual Thanksgiving vacation. “It was only up for a week that they gave everybody in the company off,” Scarlett said. What’s more, it was removed by the following Monday when most people were back at work, she added.
Last month Scarett said Apple attempted to get her to sign a strict non-disclosure agreement after her departure from the company. However, she tells Business Insider that she was “shocked” at the attempt.
“In my mind, I should be able to say whatever I want as long as I’m not defaming Apple,” she said.
Scarlett shared the NDA that Apple offered her with Nia Impact Capital, the activist investor seeking to force a shareholder vote around transparency on NDAs at the company. On Monday, Nia informed the SEC that it had “received information, confidentially provided, that Apple has sought to use concealment clauses in the context of discrimination, harassment, and other workplace labor violation claims.”
