Apple FIRES leader of the ‘#AppleToo’ movement for ‘non-compliance’ after she deleted files from work devices during investigation into leaks and worker organizing in the company
- Janneke Parrish, a program manager for Apple Maps based in Austin, Texas
- In August she and a colleague launched a website to complain about Apple
- On Thursday she was fired for ‘non compliance’, Apple said
- She had been ordered to hand over her work phone and desktop computer
- The order was part of an investigation into who leaked from an internal meeting
- Before doing so Parrish deleted files and apps which she said were personal
- She tweeted on Friday: ”There are consequences for speaking out’
- Apple said they could not discuss the circumstances of her firing
A project manager at Apple who co-founded a protest movement against the company has been fired for ‘non compliance’.
Janneke Parrish, a program manager for Apple Maps based in Austin, Texas, was one of two employees of the company to create a forum for complaints.
On Thursday she was fired, with Apple blaming her dismissal on her deleting some apps from her work phone.
Parrish, 30, was certain that her firing was a consequence of her leading the dissent.
‘There are consequences for speaking out. There are consequences for doing the right thing,’ she tweeted on Friday.
‘But we do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. #AppleToo is about asking Apple to do better, to end systemic discrimination, abuse, and pay inequity.
‘Do the right thing.’
Janneke Parrish, a program manager for Apple Maps based in Austin, Texas, was fired on Thursday. She was a leader of the ‘AppleToo’ protest movement, and said her firing was a result of her activism to highlight harassment and discrimination. Apple said she was fired for deleting apps and documents from her work devices before she handed them over
Parrish co-founded the protest movement #AppleToo, demanding that the company bring about ‘systemic change in the work place’
Parrish said an Apple lawyer and a human resources worker told her on a phone call on Thursday that she was being fired.
They said it was because she had deleted files from her company computer and phone before handing them over to be examined, but she said the apps and documents contained personal and financial information that she didn’t want to share.
She told The New York Times she had deleted screenshots of things like programming bugs she was working to fix.
She said she also deleted the Robinhood stock trading app because she did not want Apple to see ‘how much money I lost investing in GameStop’ and the Pokemon Go gaming app because ‘I feel a little embarrassed I played Pokemon Go.’
Parrish said she was investigated because company officials thought she had leaked a recording of an Apple staff meeting to the media, which she said she did not do.
Parrish and an Apple software engineer, Cher Scarlett, launched in August a website to allow workers across the company to submit stories about workplace harassment and discrimination.
‘For too long, Apple has evaded public scrutiny,’ they state on their site.
‘When we press for accountability and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degradation, and gaslighting.
‘No more. We’ve exhausted all internal avenues. We’ve talked with our leadership. We’ve gone to the People team. We’ve escalated through Business Conduct. Nothing has changed.’
Cher Scarlett, who worked with Parrish to publish allegations of workplace complaints at Apple, still works for the company. She said that Apple does not care about its employees
Scarlett, who still works for Apple, told The Washington Post on Thursday: ‘Apple does not care about its employees. It cares about money.
‘Maybe that’s capitalism, and that’s just the way corporations are. But I can’t live my life further accepting it and not saying something about it.’
Ashley Gjovik was fired in September after allegedly leaking information of an internal meeting to The Verge. She is taking Apple to a tribunal for their work conditions
Apple has refused to comment on Parrish’s firing, but said that they took complaints of harassment or discrimination seriously.
‘We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace,’ said Josh Rosenstock, an Apple spokesman, in a statement.
‘We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters.’
Parrish’s firing came a month after another employee, Ashley Gjovik, for allegedly leaking confidential information from a September 17 internal meeting, the details of which were reported in The Verge.
Gjovik, a senior engineering program manager, had for months been tweeting allegations of a toxic work environment.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, sent a note to all Apple employees in September saying that ‘people who leak confidential information do not belong’ at Apple.
He also said the company was doing ‘everything in our power to identify those who leaked.’
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, has said that the company is working to identify individuals who leaked confidential material to the media
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