Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Former Apple employee Cher Scarlett says the company didn’t adequately live up to its half of a settlement, so she won’t withdraw her complaint to the National Labor Relations Board as agreed, according to Forbes.
Scarlett says that her settlement with Apple required it to post “a company-wide memo clarifying employee rights including discussing pay & working conditions,” “in a prominent and visible location on the People site.” She says that the company did post a notice to its site, but that it was only up during the week that Apple employees were given off for Thanksgiving. “I’d argue all day that 7 days while no one is online for a holiday is absolutely not prominent and visible,” Scarlett tweeted on Thursday.
Despite the fact that there was no requirement for a time period, the agreement clearly stated “in a prominent and visible location on the People site”.
I’d argue all day that 7 days while no one is online for a holiday is absolutely not prominent and visible.
— Cher Scarlett (@cherthedev) December 9, 2021
TheNLRB saysit can reject a withdrawal request made because of a private settlement if it “violates the National Labor Relations Act or Board policy.” Scarlett toldThe Verge that the board initially rejected her request, and sent a list of 22 changes that the board would need Apple to make before it would approve the withdrawal. According to Forbes, one of the requested changes removed wording that would’ve prevented Scarlett from encouraging someone “to file any charge or complaint with any administrative agency or Court against Apple” for a year. According to Scarlett, Apple refused to make those changes.
“I technically could ask for a unilateral withdrawal at this point,” Scarlett said in a message to The Verge, saying that she had been “interested in doing that to avoid witnesses having to give testimony, because realistically the memo is the best outcome we would have gotten from the board.” According to Scarlett, the group of potential witnesses decided it was worth it to continue with the complaint, potentially risking retaliation for testifying, given how Apple handled posting the memo.
Scarlett left the company in November, after filing the complaint that accused the company of engaging “in coercive and suppressive activity that has enabled abuse and harassment of organizers of protected concerted activity.” While at the company, she worked to let employees discuss and gather data about pay equity and was part of #AppleToo, a campaign about the company’s failure to deal with harassment and discrimination.
Update December 11th, 3:47PM ET: Added additional context about the process of requesting that a complaint be withdrawn, and Scarlett’s decision not to do so.