A lawsuit has been filed against Apple (AAPL), accusing the consumer electronics giant of illegally monitoring its workers’ personal devices and iCloud accounts.
The lawsuit also claims that Apple prevents staff from discussing their pay and working conditions outside the company.
The lawsuit has been filed in California state court by Amar Bhakta, who currently works in digital advertising for Apple.
Bhakta claims the company requires employees to install software on the devices that they use for work that allows Apple to access their email, photos, and personal information.
The lawsuit also alleges that Apple imposes confidentiality policies on staff that prohibits them from discussing with the media and outside parties their pay and working conditions.
Bhakta, who has worked for Apple since 2020, says he has been stopped from talking about his work on podcasts and instructed to remove information about Apple’s working conditions from his LinkedIn profile.
Apple said in a written statement that Bhakta’s claims lack merit and that its workers are trained annually on their rights to discuss their working conditions.
Apple also faces at least three complaints from a U.S. labour board claiming that it has illegally stopped employees from discussing issues such as pay discrimination with the media.
The stock of Apple is up 29% so far this year and trading at $239.59 U.S. per share.
