US Labor Dept. reportedly opens investigation into Apple – CNET [CNET]

The US Department of Labor has opened an investigation into Apple amid growing criticism from employees about workplace conduct, The New York Times reported Monday.

The Labor Department didn’t disclose what prompted it to open the investigation, but former Apple engineering manager Ashley Gjovik, who complained about a hostile work environment at the iPhone maker, told the Times she filed the complaint “to ensure Apple knows they cannot get away with retaliating against me for exercising my federally and state-protected rights.”

Gjovik filed a complaint with the US National Labor Relations Board in August that said she had been harassed and retaliated against. The next month, she said she had been fired by Apple after months of publicly discussing harassment from co-workers, managers and Apple’s administrative teams.

Gjovik, one of at least two Apple employees who’ve filed complaints with government authorities over harassment and work culture issues in the past couple of months, couldn’t  immediately be reached for comment. Apple, which has previously declined to discuss individual employee matters, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The complaints come as the tech giant faces a wave of employee activism in recent months. In August, employees criticized Apple’s move to scan US customers’ iPhones and computers for images of child sex abuse, worrying it could lead to censorship or arrest by repressive governments. In July, employees began circulating an internal petition pressing executives for more flexible working conditions as the company began laying out post-lockdown return-to-work polices.

The Labor Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.