Apple accused of snooping on workers’ iPhones in new lawsuit

An Apple worker is suing the company over claims it requires employees to waive their right to privacy and subjects them to surveillance, as first reported by Semafor. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, Apple employee Amar Bhakta accuses Apple of accessing employee data through company-managed devices — including personal iPhones it “actively encourages” workers to use.

Though Apple gives employees the option to use an Apple-owned device for work, the lawsuit says Apple pushes users to bring their own iPhones to work, where they’re managed by Apple’s internal software. Under company policy, the data linked to these Apple-managed devices, including emails, photos, videos, notes, and other information, are “subject to search by Apple,” according to the lawsuit. Bhakta claims workers using their personal devices must link their personal iCloud accounts to the company as well, allegedly allowing Apple to collect an employee’s location data and other information while they’re outside of work.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Apple breaks California law by requiring employees to agree to a policy that allows it to “engage in physical, video, and electronic surveillance” of them, as well as gives it the ability to search Apple and non-Apple devices on “company premises,” which, in some instances, could allegedly involve a worker’s home office.

“For Apple’s employees, the Apple ecosystem is not a walled garden,” the lawsuit says. “It is a prison yard. A panopticon where employees, both on and off duty, are ever subject to Apple’s all-seeing eye.” Bhakta is also suing Apple for “illegal” wage clawback policies and claims the company suppresses employee speech. The lawsuit cites incidents in which Apple allegedly “forbade” Bhakta from publicly speaking about his experience in digital advertising and forced him to remove information about his work at Apple from his LinkedIn profile. The National Labor Relations Board accused Apple of barring employees from talking about pay equity last month.

“At Apple, we’re focused on creating the best products and services in the world and we work to protect the inventions our teams create for customers,” Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “Every employee has the right to discuss their wages, hours and working conditions and this is part of our business conduct policy, which all employees are trained on annually. We strongly disagree with these claims and believe they lack merit.”