Apple will no longer prohibit employees from talking about harassment and discrimination in the workplace
CTOnews.com, December 11 (Xinhua)-- Apple will no longer ban employees from talking about harassment and discrimination in the workplace, the Financial Times reported. Apple shared the news after reviewing its confidentiality agreements (NDA), which had banned employees from discussing working conditions.
Tuyuan PixabayCTOnews.com learned that shareholders voted to approve the independent review in March after Apple failed to make proposed changes to its concealment terms last year. The initiative is supported by Nia Impact Captial, the Alliance for Transparency in Employment agreements (TEA) and Ifeoma Ozoma, which is a co-sponsor of the No more Silence Act, which aims to protect workers who openly talk about harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
In a note entitled "our commitment to an open and cooperative workplace," Apple said that "employees have the right to freely talk about their workplace conditions, including harassment and discrimination." The company added that an independent inspector had only found provisions that "in limited circumstances" could be interpreted as limiting a person's ability to talk about such behavior, and that Apple had "committed not to enforce these restrictions. And make improvements and clarifications in the future." The company has added provisions of the California No longer Silence Act to the departure agreements of its employees across the United States.
Apple's use of the concealment clause drew scrutiny after # AppleToo organizer and former Apple engineer Cher Scarlett left the company and accused Apple of engaging in "coercion and repression activities to abuse and harass organizers of protected collaborative events." Scarlett claimed that as part of the exit agreement, Apple prevented her from talking in detail about her leaving the company. A few months later, a group of financial staff called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Apple used its confidentiality agreement to suppress workers.
"We are pleased to share with you that Apple has released their report and is stopping the use of concealment clauses in employee contracts, including domestic and international workers," Nia Impact Capital wrote on Twitter, noting that contractual employees were included, calling it "a breakthrough in the technology industry."
