 "Apple faces gender pay discrimination lawsuit, women employees seek justice")
Two women employees at Apple have taken legal action against the tech giant, alleging gender pay discrimination. Filed on Thursday in California, the lawsuit claims that Apple has systematically paid women less than men for the same roles.
The women are seeking to initiate a class action, representing over 12,000 current and former female employees in Apple’s engineering, marketing, and AppleCare divisions.
Apple is not the first major technology company to encounter such allegations. In 2018, Google settled a gender discrimination lawsuit for $118 million, and Oracle agreed to a $25 million settlement for similar allegations. Notably, both companies settled without admitting to any wrongdoing.
The core of the Apple lawsuit revolves around the company's hiring practices and performance evaluations, which the women allege have sustained a persistent wage gap. They allege that Apple's practice of asking candidates about their pay expectations, instead of prior pay, since California's 2018 law prohibiting the latter, has resulted in lower starting salaries for women.
Moreover, the lawsuit contends that performance evaluations at Apple are biased, favouring men over women by rewarding traits like teamwork and leadership in a manner that disadvantages female employees. This bias, they argue, impacts women’s chances of promotion and bonuses.
Justina Jong, a customer and technical training instructor, discovered the pay disparity when she accidentally saw a male colleague’s W-2 form.
"I noticed that he was being paid almost $10,000 more than me, even though we performed substantially similar work. This revelation made me feel terrible," Jong was quoted as saying by CNN.
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Additionally, Jong alleges she was subjected to a hostile work environment, having to work alongside a co-worker who had sexually harassed her.
The second plaintiff, Amina Salgado, has worked at Apple in various roles since 2012. She repeatedly raised concerns about the wage gap to Apple, which eventually led to a third-party investigation in late 2023. The investigation confirmed that she had been underpaid. While Apple increased her compensation following the investigation, Salgado claims the company refused to provide back pay for the years she was paid less than her male counterparts.
The lawsuit also seeks compensation for lost wages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief for all affected women.
(With inputs from agency)