The company states that ’employees have the right to speak freely about their working conditions’

Apple will no longer prevent employees from talking about harassment and discrimination in the workplace, the Financial Times first reported. The company shared the news following a review of non-disclosure agreements, which previously excluded language surrounding the discussion of working conditions. Apple shareholders voted to approve the independent review in March after the company failed to make suggested changes to its concealment clauses last year. The initiative had the support of Nia Impact Captial, the Transparency in Employment Agreements (TEA) coalition and Ifeoma Ozoma, the co-sponsor of the Silenced No More Act, which is supposed to protect workers who report harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

In a note entitled ‘Our Commitment to an Open and Collaborative Workplace’, Apple states that ’employees have the right to speak freely about their working conditions, including harassment and discrimination’. The company adds that an independent reviewer found provisions that could “be interpreted as restricting a person’s ability to speak about such conduct” only in “limited instances” and that Apple is “committed to not enforcing such restrictions and to making improvements and clarifications in the future.” 

More transparency 

The company already includes the language of California’s Silenced No More Act in its separation agreements for employees in the US. Apple’s use of concealment clauses drew attention after Cher Scarlett, a #AppleToo organizer and former Apple engineer, left the company and accused it of engaging in “coercive and repressive activities that enabled abuse and harassment of organizers of protected concerted activities”. As noted by an Insider report, Scarlett claimed that Apple prevented her from discussing her departure from the company as part of a separation agreement.

Months later, a treasury group called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Apple used its non-disclosure agreements to silence workers. “We are excited to share that Apple has released its report and is ending the use of concealment clauses in employee contracts, both domestically and internationally,” writes Nia Impact Capital on Twitter, noting that contract employees are also included. “This is a revolutionary change for the tech industry.” The affair comes following a significant backlash in 2021 from employees who formed the AppleToo movement that included 500 allegations of racism, sexism, discrimination, retaliation and more.