Jong, currently a customer/technical training instructor on Apple’s global developer relations/app review team, said that she only became aware of a stark pay disparity by chance.
“One day, I saw a W-2 left on the office printer,” Jong said. “It belonged to my male colleague, who has the same job position. 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.”
[…]
According to the complaint, several of Apple’s policies favoring men have further entrenched the alleged pay gap. That includes Apple’s performance evaluation system, which women suing alleged rewarded men in categories such as teamwork and leadership but “penalized” women for excelling in those areas.
Apple also seemingly has “a policy or practice of selecting individuals who have ‘talent’ and compensating those persons more highly than other employees.” But neither Jong nor Salgado—although both have held various leadership roles—were ever designated as “talent” deserving of a pay increase, the lawsuit said. They’ve alleged that this Apple policy is biased against women, more often rewarding male “talent” while female talent goes unacknowledged.
“More men are identified as having talent,” the complaint said.
Separately, Jong has also alleged that Apple subjected her to a hostile work environment after a senior member of her team, Blaine Weilert, sexually harassed her. After she complained, Apple investigated and Weilert reportedly admitted to touching her “in a sexually suggestive manner without her consent,” the complaint said. Apple then disciplined Weilert but ultimately would not allow Jong to escape the hostile work environment, requiring that she work with Weilert on different projects. Apple later promoted Weilert.
As a result of Weilert’s promotion, the complaint said that Apple placed Weilert in a desk “sitting adjacent” to Jong’s in Apple’s offices. Following a request to move her desk, a manager allegedly “questioned” Jong’s “willingness to perform her job and collaborate” with Weilert, advising that she be “professional, respectful, and collaborative,” rather than honoring her request for a non-hostile workplace.
As a result of Weilert’s promotion, the complaint said that Apple placed Weilert in a desk “sitting adjacent” to Jong’s in Apple’s offices. Following a request to move her desk, a manager allegedly “questioned” Jong’s “willingness to perform her job and collaborate” with Weilert, advising that she be “professional, respectful, and collaborative,” rather than honoring her request for a non-hostile workplace.
Apple could also be on the hook for hundreds in civil penalties per class member per pay period between 2020 and 2024.
Emphasis mine. Doesn’t seem like much of a deterrent to a multi-trillion dollar company, does it…?
If we low-ball that estimate at $200 per pay period per person, someone who worked there the full 5 years would get $26,000. Their north America operations were 33.6% women in 2022, but no clue how many women total that translates to. They have 161,000 employees globally. If they have 20,000 women in the US, that would translate to $520,000,000. If it’s 40,000, then $1 billion. Yes, they could afford it, but they’re not going to like it.
There is no rule anywhere that says you are not allowed to talk about your pay. I openly talk about my salary at work, I will tell literally anybody who asks - i’d say about half my company (a few dozen employees) knows what I make. If we all operate that way it will save us a lot of trouble. This nonsense where it’s considered impolite to talk about your salary is purely to the benefit of companies and is designed so that revelations like the one this employee experienced don’t happen.
One job I held had an employee handbook that included a blurb about how and individual’s salary is their own business, and in order to foster collaboration and unity, it was best to avoid the topic entirely (I’m paraphrasing; I don’t remember the wording).
Hogwash, of course, for the reasons you mentioned.
Apple Retail had the same “guidance” when I was there.
It’s fine at work. Frankly it’s a problem socially: everyone wants to judge- if you earn more then they resent it, if you earn less, they sneer at you, if you earn ‘about the same’ then people want to calculate how you spend your money and criticise something about that.
