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Ashley Gjøvik

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Ashley Gjøvik
Headshot of Ashley Gjovik
Born1985 or 1986 (age 38–39)[1]
OccupationProgram manager
Known forLegal complaints against Apple Inc.

Ashley Gjøvik is an American program manager and activist who is known for her labor complaints against Apple Inc. Gjøvik was terminated in 2021 by Apple for allegedly leaking confidential intellectual property, which she denied. Gjøvik alleged her firing was retaliation for speaking out against the company.

Gjøvik filed several National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaints against Apple, including two regarding employee rules that were found to have merit in January 2023. In October 2024, the NLRB charged Apple with maintaining illegal employment agreements and enforcing overly broad rules around employee misconduct and use of social media.

Education and career

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Gjøvik studied literature with an intent to get a Master of Fine Arts. She received a bachelor's degree at Portland State University. After working at Nike, Inc., she joined Apple in 2015.[2] In 2016, she became an engineering program manager for Apple working out of their Sunnyvale office.[1][3] She spent several months on paid leave between 2020–2021.[4][5][a] While employed at Apple, Gjøvik studied public international law and human rights at Santa Clara University. She received a Juris Doctor.[8][2] After being terminated from Apple in September 2021,[9] she worked as an intern at an immigration clinic that helps asylum seekers.[8]

Labor issues and concerns at Apple

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See also: AppleToo and Apple Inc. and unions

In July 2021, Apple investigated Gjøvik's allegations of sex discrimination from a male manager. On August 2, following the closure of the investigation finding no wrongdoing, she wrote on Twitter about the experience, alleging she was tone policed and received critical feedback for upspeak which gained national attention. In an interview with The Verge, Gjøvik said she asked Apple to "mitigate the hostile work environment", adding that, "if there was no other option", she would accept paid administration leave. She said they made no effort to "set up oversight and boundaries" with leadership, and she was instead placed on the second of two paid leaves while the company re-investigated her claims.[a][5]

Termination and labor complaints

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Further information: TRW Microwave

On August 26, 2021, Gjøvik filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging retaliation, harassment, and forced administrative leave.[6] A few days later, The Verge published an article in which she and other Apple employees told the publication they were discouraged from keeping separate phones for personal and professional use and were expected to help test software with informed consent.[8][10] Program manager Janneke Parrish also said this in an interview.[11] Apple instructs its employees not to upload sensitive, confidential, or private data to work tools.[8] In the article, and on social media, Gjøvik raised employee privacy concerns about legal holds and the data Apple collects through its internal tools. She spoke of data privacy concerns of internal tools such as a bug tracking tool called "Radar" and an app for testing Face ID, "Glimmer,"[b] which took photos and brief videos when it sensed a face. A screen recording taken by Gjøvik was included in the article and in a tweet.[10][8]

The following week, on September 9, Gjøvik was contacted by Apple's human resources team about an investigation into "a sensitive Intellectual Property matter". After Gjøvik offered to participate in the investigation only by email, she was suspended and subsequently terminated. Apple said she had "disclosed confidential product-related information in violation of Apple policies" and that she had "failed to cooperate and to provide accurate and complete information during the Apple investigatory process".[8][3] She received a letter from O'Melveny & Myers on behalf of Apple stating that the tweet with the video of Glimmer was "a violation ... of a confidentiality agreement she’d signed". She deleted it, though she objected to the legal grounds.[8] Gjøvik alleged her termination was retaliatory for speaking out about environmental concerns, harassment, and sexism. She filed a complaint with the NLRB, asking for reinstatement.[13][2]

Gjøvik filed two additional charges with the NLRB against Apple the following month, after a company-wide memo from Tim Cook was leaked to the press on September 21, 2021.[14] The memo was criticized for conflating product leaks with employee activism around workplace conditions, and for including the line, "people who leak confidential information do not belong here," which some interpreted as threatening.[15] Gjøvik alleged that the memo and several other policies in the employee handbook illegally inhibit staff from exercising their federally-protected rights to talk to the press, discuss wages, and post on social media.[16][17]

On October 1, 2024, the NLRB charged Apple with one[18] of five charges found to have merit in 2023, two of which were brought by Gjøvik,[19][20] that "various work rules, handbook rules, and confidentiality rules" imposed by Apple and its executives "tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees" from exercising their legal rights to collective action and to speak with the media.[21][22][23] The NLRB's charge accused Apple of "interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of" federal labor laws by requiring they sign unlawful employment agreements, that included confidentiality, non-compete, and non-disclosure clauses, and for enforcing overly broad rules about misconduct and social media usage.[18] The NLRB has not yet ruled in response to Gjøvik's individual charges.[22]

Gjøvik sued Apple in California for retaliating against her for her NLRB charges in 2023, which was mostly dismissed on October 1, 2024.[18]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b An August leave was described as "indefinite" by The Verge, but they and Gjøvik both say it was for the duration of the investigation. Gjøvik later describes this leave as a forced suspension.[3][6][7]
  2. ^ Gjøvik refers to Glimmer by its former code name "Gobbler."[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b McGee, Patrick; Temple-West, Patrick (December 13, 2021). "Apple faces probe over whether it retaliated against whistleblower". Financial Times. Archived from the original on October 26, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Burton, Lucy (April 17, 2022). "Apple whistleblower Ashley Gjøvik: 'My life is a goddamn nightmare now'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Schiffer, Zoe (September 9, 2021). "Apple fires senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly leaking information". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  4. ^ Gjøvik, Ashley (March 26, 2021). "I thought I was dying: My apartment was built on toxic waste". San Francisco Bay View. Archived from the original on January 16, 2024. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Schiffer, Zoe (August 4, 2021). "Apple places female engineering program manager on administrative leave after tweeting about sexism in the office". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  6. ^ a b McGee, Patrick (September 2, 2021). "US labour board examines retaliation claims against Apple". Financial Times. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  7. ^ Snider, Mike (October 17, 2021). "Fired co-leader of #AppleToo worker activist group to file federal complaints". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Cameron, Dell (October 14, 2021). "Apple Wanted Her Fired. It Settled On an Absurd Excuse". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on October 15, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  9. ^ Schiffer, Zoe (September 9, 2021). "Apple fires senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly leaking information". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Schiffer, Zoe (August 30, 2021). "Apple cares about privacy, unless you work at Apple". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  11. ^ Schiffer, Zoë (October 16, 2021). "A brief chat with the fired #AppleToo organizer". The Verge. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  12. ^ Lomas, Natasha (April 11, 2022). "Ex-Apple employee takes Face ID privacy complaint to Europe". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  13. ^ Hays, Kali (September 16, 2021). "Apple hit by another NLRB charge for firing senior manager who complained of harassment". Business Insider. Archived from the original on September 17, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  14. ^ Eidelson, Josh (October 12, 2021). "Apple CEO's Anti-Leak Edict Broke Law, Ex-Employee Alleges". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on October 13, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  15. ^ Schiffer, Zoe (September 22, 2021). "Tim Cook says employees who leak memos do not belong at Apple, according to leaked memo". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  16. ^ Towey, Hannah. "Former Apple employee alleges a Tim Cook email saying leakers 'do not belong' at the company violates worker-protection laws". Business Insider. Archived from the original on June 17, 2024. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  17. ^ Mak, Aaron (October 27, 2021). "How Leakers Get Dealt With in Silicon Valley". Slate. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c Wiessner, Daniel (October 1, 2024). "Apple accused by US labor board of imposing illegal workplace rules". Reuters.
  19. ^ McGee, Patrick (January 30, 2023). "Apple violated work rules, according to US labour watchdog". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on June 17, 2024. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  20. ^ Gan, Jeremy (October 1, 2024). "US labor board accuses Apple of violating employees' rights". Engadget. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
  21. ^ Eidelson, Josh (January 30, 2023). "Apple Executives Violated Worker Rights, US Labor Officials Say". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  22. ^ a b Silberling, Amanda (January 31, 2023). "Labor officials found that Apple execs infringed on workers' rights". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  23. ^ Mickle, Tripp (January 31, 2023). "Regulators Find Apple's Secrecy Violates Workers' Rights - After a yearlong investigation, a federal labor board determined that the tech giant's rules interfere with employees' right to organize". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
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