“I was fired,” says an Apple employee, who stood up and led in organising efforts against harassment and discrimination in the company.
In an interview on Friday, Janneke Parrish who is a program manager at Apple told that she was suspended last week and terminated on Thursday because she was one of the organizers of the #Appletoo movement. Apple fired her because she deleted files from her work devices before turning them over to the company as part of an internal investigation into leaks to the press, said Janneke Parrish.
The move is the latest sign of a growing schism between Apple and its employees, who have recently defied the company’s long-standing culture of secrecy to speak out about contentious hiring decisions, alleged pay disparities, and remote work policies.
Parrish along with Cher Scarlett who is her colleague, started #AppleToo in the month of August to help other Apple employees “organise and protect ourselves,” according to what the movement’s website said. In order to outline “changes we expect to see Apple make,” they started their movement with a coworker and asked her to share her stories of issues they found, which included racism, sexism, and discrimination.
On Friday, Parrish told CNN Business that they even received hundreds of reports in the weeks since then, which included different incidents such as “range the gamut from sexism and ageism to disclosures of rape and suicide.”
Apple did not comment specifically on Parrish’s firing. Scarlett, who is still at the company, declined to comment.
“We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace,” Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock said in a statement to CNN.
“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.”
