Apple hit with lawsuit over monitoring & limiting employee communication

A new lawsuit has accused Apple of carrying out monitoring and surveillance of the personal devices of its employes and of putting a restriction on their ability for discussing issues surrounding the workplace, as per reports. The lawsuit that has been filed in California state court on Sunday, has alleged that it is required by employees to make installation of monitoring software on their personal devices. Apple gets access to confidential personal data through this software, which includes photo libraries, emails, 'smart home' information, health data.

The lawsuit has been brought by Amar Bhakta, a digital advertising employee, making claims that the company imposes stringent confidentiality measures which pose a restriction on employees from venting out about their working conditions both in media and in public forums. 

In a report, it was alleged by Bhakta that he was asked to remove references to his work as well as concerns from his Linkedin profile besides being prevented from discussing his job on podcasts. As per Apple, the claims are lacking in merit and that employees are trained yearly for discussing about their working conditions. Apple has also faced allegations over disparity in pay and there are three other complaints filed with U.S National Labor Relations Board against Apple.

The latest lawsuit has been filed under a California law allowing employees to take legal action on the state's behalf retaining 35% of the penalties that are retrieved

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