​Ashley's Apple Legal Battle

 "Docket" of Cases, Charges, & Complaints


Additional Resources:

U.S. District Court

RICO & Whistleblower Retaliation
  • Case: Ashley Gjovik v Apple, 3:23-cv-04597-LB, United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.

"An Apple whistleblower has filed a RICO Act lawsuit against the company, in a bid to get the iPhone maker to answer accusations of retaliation against the former employee... The civil lawsuit was filed on Friday as Gjovik had "decided that if I had to face Apple in court anyways, and only had one real chance to go after Apple on everything they've done to me, that I better include it all - and I did." ... The filing was made on September 7, 2023, at the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint demands a jury trial." [AppleInsider]

 

​U.S. National Labor Review Board (NLRB)

 

​Retaliation & Wrongful Termination
​
​"U.S. labor agency probes two complaints from Apple workers​," Reuters, Sept 2 2021 [link]

"U.S. labour board examines retaliation claims against Apple," Financial Times, Sept 2 2021 [link]

"In her letter to the NLRB, she said Apple’s employee relations department “intimidated me not to speak about my safety concerns”, that a manager advised she quit Apple and that she was subject to sexism and a “dramatically increased” workload. Matters escalated when she took her complaints to Apple’s Slack channels, specifically a 2,000-member forum for female software engineers. She said she was flooded with supportive comments and similar stories of workplace harassment — but she had since been banned from using Slack as part of her administrative leave."  [link]
​
 
​Unlawful Employee Policies (Merit Found ✓ ✓)
"Apple Executives Violated Worker Rights, Labor Officials Say," Bloomberg, January 30 2023 

"The NLRB general counsel’s office has determined that 'various work rules, handbook rules, and confidentiality rules' imposed by the tech giant 'tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees' from exercising their rights to collective action, spokesperson Kayla Blado said Monday.  In addition, she said, the agency 'found merit to a charge alleging statements and conduct by Apple — including high-level executives — also violated the National Labor Relations Act.' Gjovik cited policies restricting staff from disclosing 'business information,' talking to reporters, revealing co-workers’ compensation or posting impolite tweets. Gjovik cited policies restricting staff from disclosing 'business information,' talking to reporters, revealing co-workers’ compensation or posting impolite tweets." 

"Apple has infringed on worker rights, NLRB investigators say," CNN, January 31 2023 

"As part of the investigation an NLRB regional office had 'found merit to a charge alleging statements and conduct by Apple — including high-level executives — also violated the National Labor Relations Act.' The former employee who cited the Cook email in her charges, Ashley Gjovik, told CNN she does not intend to accept any settlement offer from Apple because she hopes to force the company to acknowledge it violated labor law and to amend the policies it applies to its workforce. 'They don’t just have a feeling of impunity — they actually have it with these policies,' Gjovik said, pointing to multiple confidentiality clauses in Apple’s employee handbook that she said allows Apple to bully and intimidate workers into silence about workplace retaliation. 'I want to go to the heart of the issues I saw.'" 

"Labor officials found that Apple execs infringed on workers’ rights," Tech Crunch, January 31 2023 

"The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found merit to complaints that high-level executives at Apple violated national labor law. These charges were filed by Ashley Gjøvik, a former senior engineer program manager at Apple. In an email to TechCrunch, Gjøvik explained that Apple employment policies 'coercively silence Apple employees and chill them from engaging in protected activity through over-broad and vague terms, as well as through an implication of constant surveillance.' Gjøvik submitted a number of documents as part of her NLRB complaint, including an email from CEO Tim Cook.  A representative from the NLRB told TechCrunch that work rules, handbook rules and confidentiality rules at Apple 'tend to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their right to protected concerted activity,' according to these findings." 

Gjøvik was fired by Apple in September 2021 for leaking confidential information; she told TechCrunch that she thinks she was fired in retaliation after reporting to the EPA that her office was built on the 'Triple Site' of toxic waste in Silicon Valley, where cracks in the floor exposed employees to carcinogenic fumes. The NLRB has not yet made a decision regarding Gjøvik’s complaints that she was illegally fired in retaliation for speaking out about work conditions." ​

"Watchdog: There just may be something in these claims Apple broke labor laws," The Register, Feb 1 2023

"Ashley Gjovik, who filed the claims relating to unsafe work conditions, has documented her case against Apple extensively and has been vocal on Twitter about the progress of her challenge to the Mac-maker's workplace practices.  Gjovik's case stems from her work at an Apple office in Sunnyvale, California, that had been built on an apparently contaminated site, exposure to which caused her adverse health effects. Gjovik claims that Apple fought her efforts to address safety concerns, and then to report the site to the NLRB and the Environmental Protection Agency, ultimately resulting in her being placed on leave and fired.

In October of last year, Gjovik filed a new claim with the NLRB related to an all-staff email sent by Apple CEO Tim Cook to employees in September in which he said "people who leak confidential information do not belong here". That missive stated Apple was doing everything in its power to determine who had leaked such information. Gjovik said Apple's justification for her firing that same month was related to her violating disclosure policies of the kind Cook complained about, though she maintains the firing was related to her reporting of the contamination issues to the US government.​"

​"​Apple CEO’s Anti-Leak Edict Broke Law, Ex-Employee Alleges," Bloomberg, October 12 2021

​"The rule described in Cook’s memo and the policies cited in Gjovik’s complaint might be deemed legitimate under the Trump-era Boeing standard, but “most if not all” of them would probably be illegal under earlier, more pro-labor precedents, said University of Wyoming law professor and former NLRB attorney Michael Duff. A case like Gjovik’s offers the Biden appointees “an attractive vehicle” to establish a precedent more like the pre-Trump ones, which prohibited rules that workers could “reasonably construe” as banning legally protected activism, Duff said in an email." ​

"The current labor board is very likely to deem statements in Cook’s memo illegal, said former NLRB member Wilma Liebman, who chaired the agency under President Barack Obama. “What he’s saying here goes too far” by limiting discussion about meetings where workplace issues are addressed, rather than only leaks about intellectual property, Liebman said in an interview. “It’s restrictive of people’s ability to talk about employment policies.” 

"Apple Employee Blows Whistle on Illegal Spying and Toxic Working Conditions," Truthout, Dec 19 2021

"The Apple handbook includes a footnote stating that the company is not attempting to restrict its employees’ “rights to speak freely about wages, hours, or working conditions as legally permitted.” But Apple policy also generally forbids employees from making any public disclosures without prior approval, including statements to the press, and it orders employees to refrain from discussing “compensation, training, recruiting, and other human resource information” after leaving the company, which it attempts to enforce through non-disclosure agreements. The handbook also bars employees from sharing information about their coworkers’ “compensation, health information, or performance and disciplinary matters” without any footnotes about “rights to speak freely about wages, hours, or working conditions,” according to Gjovik’s complaint." 
​
"Experts familiar with the NLRA, including former NLRB officials, have said that Gjovik has a strong case against Apple — especially her complaint about CEO Cook threatening the employees who leaked details about the meeting concerning pay equity. “What he’s saying here goes too far,” NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman told Bloomberg about the Cook memo. “It’s restrictive of people’s ability to talk about employment policies.” Mark Gaston Pearce, another former NLRB chair who, like Liebman, led the Board during the Obama administration, tweeted that Gjovik’s case could be “a vehicle” to reverse pro-management rulings by the Board under the Trump administration." 

"The night before Gjovik was fired, she received a direct message on Twitter from a random helpful follower urging her to take steps to protect her privacy, in a general warning that invoked his own experience with private sector surveillance. Hours later, she asked her Twitter followers if it would be “over-paranoid” to worry about the security of her messages on Apple’s iCloud. Soon after, she began taking her personal information off of servers controlled by Apple and, as she told the tech publication Protocol, Gjovik began to unplug smart devices in her home. She told Truthout that she has no proof of the company using non-public information against her, but noted that internet trolls defending Apple have used information that she has not shared about her health and compensation to insult her, calling the matter a “nightmare sandwich.” Gjovik has also documented how supervisors at Apple were warning her to be wary of private-sector surveillance when she told them how she was locking horns with her property management company." 

"In the Summer, Three Workplace Activists Were Making Waves at Apple. All Three Are Now Gone," Slate, Nov 23 2021 

"Using IP leak investigations as a way to discourage people from speaking out against workplace issues should technically violate labor laws, though such laws have toothless protections for whistleblowers and are subject to interpretation by whomever is in charge of the NLRB at any given time. According to organizers, by conflating IP leaks with workplace whistleblowing, Apple can better enforce a culture of secrecy. As evidence they point to a memo that CEO Tim Cook released in September stating “people who leak confidential information do not belong” at Apple, which referred to both product information and details of all-hands meetings. Gjøvik used this memo as evidence in a NLRB complaint she filed in October, which alleges that the company’s tendency to equate whistleblowing and activism with leaking violates labor protections. “Someone needs to intervene,” she said. “If we can get the NLRB to send something to Apple employees saying they do have rights … that’s a first step.”  

"Former Apple employee alleges a Tim Cook email saying leakers 'do not belong' at the company violates worker-protection laws," Business Insider, Oct 12 2021 

"Last month, Ashley Gjovik was fired from her senior program manager position at Apple. Now, she's just completed midterms during her final year of law school. As she studied for her labor law exam, Gjovik told Insider that she noticed the "unlawful examples" mentioned in her textbook were "nearly identical to terms in Apple's employee policies." Gjovik said that led her to file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday in which she alleges that Apple's anti-leaking stance and strict employee handbook violates US labor laws."

Gjovik emphasized that while there are IP laws protecting a company's confidential product information, limiting discussion about employee meetings potentially prevents workers from communicating about workplace concerns, a right protected by the NLRB. "This seems like one of the most fundamental changes that need to happen to enable workplace and employee organizing at Apple," Gjovik said. "If people are terrified that they can't talk to each other about work conditions or talk to a labor lawyer about work conditions - a union couldn't even begin to organize."
 

​U.S. Department of Labor


​Whistleblower Protection Program

​Ashley Gjovik v Apple Inc.
  • U.S. Dept of Labor: CERCLA, SOX, & OSHA whistleblower retaliation
  • U.S. Dept of Labor OIG: corruption in region IX 
  • Update: The SOX charge has been "kicked-out" to District Court as part of the civil lawsuit since the agency has not made a decision in over 180 days.
Case: ​Apple Inc/Gjovik/9-3290-22-051
​

 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. §9610

​
  • ✔ I made an internal complaint to the employer related to an Environmental Statute - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation 
  • ✔ I provided information to or filed a complaint with a federal, state, or local agency or gov entity related to an Env statute - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation 

​"Gjovik’s specific complaints against Apple date back to mid-March, when she cited unsafe working conditions related to “chemical exposure” at her Apple office in Sunnyvale, California, where more than 100 employees are based. Her office, known as “Stewart 1” within Apple, is located on what the Environmental Protection Agency refers to as the “TRW Microwave Superfund site”, a location requiring special oversight owing to previous contamination by hazardous waste materials in the soil and groundwater beneath the building. Gjovik said her concerns were brushed aside and she was warned against speaking up about them. [link] ​
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), 18 U.S.C.A. §1514A

Update: The SOX charge was "kicked out" to District Court and the civil lawsuit.

  • ✔ I provided information to a federal regulatory or law enforcement agency that I reasonably believed violates SEC rules/regulations; or any provision of federal law relating to fraud against shareholders - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation ​
  • ✔ I provided information to a supervisor (or another person working for the employer who has the authority to investigate/discover/terminate misconduct) regarding conduct that I reasonably believe violates SEC rules/regulations; or any provision of federal law relating to fraud against shareholders - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation 

"The labour department will examine whether Apple retaliated over claims about occupational safety and hazardous waste management liability, alongside a third allegation that falls under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Sox, which sets out the rules for financial record keeping. Gjovik pointed to a potential conflict of interest regarding Apple board member Ronald Sugar, chair of the audit committee, as he was previously chief executive of Northrop Grumman, the defence company responsible for the dump — and maintenance — of waste materials beneath the Sunnyvale office. Sugar could not be immediately reached for comment."  [link]

"Apple faces probe over whether it retaliated against whistleblower. US labour department inquiry follows claims by ex-senior engineering program manager," Financial Times, Dec 13 2021 [link]

"Stephen Kohn, an employment lawyer and an expert in US whistleblowing law, said the burden of proof needed for the agency to open an investigation was high, as the employee must have already established enough evidence that, unless rebutted, would prove the case. He said the case would be closely watched because it was especially rare for a labour dispute with Big Tech “to break into the public” domain. The labour department rarely investigated such cases, he added, because of the widespread use of non-disclosure agreements to “silence and intimidate whistleblowers”. 

"Mary Inman, head of the international whistleblower practice at the law firm Constantine Cannon, described [Gjovik's] case as “a breath of fresh air” as Joe Biden’s administration signals a more aggressive stance to hold companies to account." 

"Gjovik’s case was “especially unusual” and noteworthy because of the three separate statutes or laws that may have been broken, said Michael Duff, a former attorney at the National Relations Labor Board. “Federal agencies exercise what in the context of criminal law is known as prosecutorial discretion,” he said. “They are very careful of what cases they move forward because they have scarce resources, so they must have a strong reason to believe they can prevail.” ​
Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), 29 U.S.C. §660
​
  • ✔  I filed an occupational safety or health complaint with OSHA or another agency - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation 
  • ✔  I filed an occupational safety or health complaint with management - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation 
  • ✔  I exercised rights afforded by the OSH Act - my employer knew this and then I faced retaliation 
    • ✔  I communicated orally or in writing with a supervisor or other management personnel about occupational safety or health matters, including reporting by managers or others with occupational safety or health responsibilities as part of their duties;
    • ✔  I asked occupational safety or health questions and expressing concerns about these matters;
    • ✔  I reported a work-related fatality, injury, or illness;
    • ✔  I requesting access to records, copies of the OSH Act, OSHA regulations, applicable OSHA standards, or plans for compliance

"By the middle of summer, things began to escalate. On July 23, Gjovik made The New York Times quote of the day for questioning why Apple management wanted its employees to return to office work as the Delta variant of COVID-19 started to spread throughout the country. Around the same time, she took to the company’s messaging platform, Slack, to ask her coworkers if they have had negative experiences dealing with HR, receiving numerous responses in the affirmative." 
​
 

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission​ (SEC)


Conflict of Interest & Fraud 
  • U.S. SEC: corruption, fraud, conflicts of interest 
  • U.S. SEC: unlawful employee policies & fraudulent statements 
  • U.S. SEC & Treasury: failure to follow U.S. sanctions laws; FCPA complaint ​
  • Whistleblower tip: 16304-612-987-465, 31 Aug 2021​


"Apple faces probe over whether it retaliated against whistleblower. US labour department inquiry follows claims by ex-senior engineering program manager," Financial Times, Dec 13 2021 [link]



​Confidentiality Agreements Fraud & Misrepresentation
  • whistleblower tip: 16353-506-600-213, 27 Oct 2021 

​
"Apple Employee Blows Whistle on Illegal Spying and Toxic Working Conditions," Truthout, Dec 19 2021 [link]

"Apple says workers have right to discuss pay, but scrutiny of employee policy intensifies," Apple Insider, Nov 19 2021 [link]

"Apple fights shareholder call for more transparency," Financial Times, Oct 27 2021 [link]

"SEC allows AAPL Shareholders to Push For Details on Apple NDAs," The Mac Observer, Dec 23 2021 [link]

"Apple used NDAs against workers and ‘straight out lied’ about it, claims report," 9to5Mac.com, Feb 7 2021 [link]

"As far as her complaint to the SEC is concerned, Gjovik said she wants to stop the company from misrepresenting how it treats its employees. The complaint centers around a shareholder, Nia Impact Capital, who alleged that Apple is exposing itself to employment litigation risk by enforcing a culture of secrecy beyond that which is necessary to protect its trade secrets. The company responded by claiming that “Apple does not limit employees’ and contractors’ ability to speak freely about harassment, discrimination, and other unlawful acts in the workplace.” Gjovik’s SEC complaint alleges that these are “false & misleading statements of material importance” by Apple, citing an agency commissioner who warned in September 2020 against companies engaged in “woke-washing where companies attempt to portray themselves in a light they believe will be advantageous for them on issues like diversity.” [link]
​
​
 

California Department of Labor Cases

Department of Industrial Relations, Retaliation

Update: The California Department of Labor case has been removed to District Court for a civil lawsuit as the department has not even started investigating.

Ashley Gjovik v. Apple Inc.
  • Activity Around COVID-19 Exposure [§232.5, §1102.5, §6310]
  • Activity Around COVID-19 Vaccine Hoarding [§232.5, §1102.5, §6310]
  • Activity Around Ethylbenzene & Toluene Concerns [§232.5, §1102.5, §6310]
  • Reporting Workplace Injuries [§232.5, §1102.5, §6310]
  • Reporting Health & Safety Issues [§232.5, §1102.5, §6310]​
​
Retaliation & Policy Charge: RCI-CM-842830

California Labor Code §232.5

  • ✓ Retaliation due to disclosing work conditions in violation of §232.5(c)
  • ✓ Employer rules & contracts prohibiting disclosure of work conditions in violation of §232.5(a) & §232.5(b)
​

California Labor Code §6310

  • ✓ Retaliation for making complaints to government agencies about health & safety issues in violation of §6310(a)(1)
  • ✓ Retaliation due to reporting work-related injury of illness in violation of §6310(a)(4)
  • ✓ Retaliation for complaining about a violation of §6399 in violation of §6310
​

California Labor Code §1102.5

  • ✓ Retaliation due to disclosing information to a government & law enforcement agency in violation of §1102.5(b)
  • ✓ Employer rules prohibiting disclosure of information to a government & law enforcement agency in violation of §1102.5(a)
​

California Labor Code §6399; Code of Regulations 5194

  • ✓ Failure to comply with Prop 65 requirements in violation of §5194(b)(6)
  • ✓ Omission of 10x §339 hazardous chemicals from §5194(b)(6) in violation Labor Code §6360-6399.7 & Code of Regulations Title 8 §5194
  • ✓ Prohibiting employees from observing and monitoring and measure employee exposure to hazards pursuant to §142.3 (effectively determining “whether the heath of such employee is adversely affected by this exposure”) in violation of §6408(c)
  • ✓ Failure to provide access to employees to accurate records of employee exposures to potentially toxic materials or harmful physical agents in violation of §6408(d)
  • ✓ Failure to notify employees who has been or who is being exposed to toxic materials or harmful physical agents and informing any employee so exposed of corrective action being taken in violation of §6408(d)
​
 

California Unemployment Insurance

California State
  • California Unemployment Insurance: I won the appeal! Apple had to pay me my unemployment benefits (view)

decision/order: View
 

U.S. EEOC & CA DEFH - Charges

Ashley Gjovik v Apple Inc., no investigation requested; Right to Sue Notice granted
  • Charges: discrimination based on sex & disability; retaliation for filing charge 
  • incorporates U.S. DOJ Civil Rights (98145-RJH)​

Press:
  • "Former Apple Employee Alleges Workplace Violations and Wrongful Termination," Justia, Sept 20 2021 [here]
  • "Program manager fired by Apple allegedly over workplace complaints receives right to sue from federal agency," Business Insider, Sept 10 2021 [link]
  • "Apple Fires Manager Who Complained; She Gains Right to Sue," Bloomberg, Sept 9 2021 [link]
  • "Apple Fires Program Manager Who Accused Bosses of Harassment, Intimidation," Gizmodo, Sept 9 2021 [link]
 

Generally: Retaliation in this Matter

  • Hostile Work Environment & Failure to Resolve HWE
  • Constructive Termination 
  • Increase in Unfavorable Work 
  • Reduction in Favorable Projects
  • Significantly Increased Workload
  • Exclusion from Meetings, Projects, & Emails 
  • Indefinite Administrative Leave / Suspension 
  • Denial of Prescheduled Training
  • Suspension of Account Access 
  • Defamation by Publication  
  • Termination 
  • Defamation & Trade Libel by Reason of Termination 
  • Post-Employment Harassment, Ostracization, Shunning, Denylisting 
  • Threats & Coercement to Drop Charges/Cases
  • Threats of Violence, Litigation, Bankrupcy, & further Retaliation
  • Threats against Friends & Supporters
  • Mailed a Threatening Packing
  • Home Address Posted Online
  • Defamation Per Se by Accusations of Criminal Activity
  • Retaliatory Litigation 
  • Retaliatory Reports to Law Enforcement (Local & Federal)
  • Retaliatory Reports of Social Media Posts & Uploads about Cases & Legal Filings
  • Retaliatory Reports & Complaints to Law School
  • Unlawful Gag Order
  • Retaliatory Banishment from Resources & Associations 
  • Denial of Unemployment Benefits  
  • Home Break-Ins, Surveillance, Stalking

Generally: Evidence of Pretext

Temporal Proximity: A close temporal proximity exists between the protected activities and adverse actions
  • Apple terminated me days/weeks following protected activity, thus temporal proximity is enough to solely substantiate causation

Disparate treatment: of complainant as compared to other employees following the protected activity.
  • Apple did not follow its own termination policies & process
  • Others were not terminated for the same actions; others were not terminated for far worse actions

Indicators that respondent’s stated reasons for the adverse action are pretext.
  • Reasons proffered do not explain the other retaliation against me from March 2021-August 2021 (hostile work environment, constructive termination, reassigning of projects, increase in workload, assignment of unfavorable projects, etc)
  • My Sept 9 termination freed Apple from having to respond to my discrimination and retaliation complaints, workplace safety complaints, vapor intrusion testing results, or provide her annual performance review (the next week)

Hostility: Evidence of hostility towards the protected activity
  • Apple’s online harassment cited my protected activity as the reason for termination & retaliation
  • Before she was fired, Apple repeatedly told me not to speak with coworkers about her concerns about safety, labor, or retaliation
 

Generally: Apple’s Proffered Reason for Termination  

See: Sept 9 Termination Transcript

Nonsense, Generally
  • Apple terminated me days/weeks following protected activity, thus temporal proximity is enough to solely substantiate causation
  • Reasons proffered by Apple do not explain the other retaliation from March 2021-August 2021 (hostile work environment, constructive termination, reassigning of projects, increase in workload, assignment of unfavorable projects, etc)
  • My Sept 9 termination freed Apple from having to respond to my discrimination and retaliation complaints, workplace safety complaints, vapor intrusion testing results, or provide my annual performance review (the next week)
  • Apple did not follow its own termination policies & process 
  • Termination was in Breach of Anti-Retaliation Policy & Breach of Board of Directors Whistleblower Policy
  • Apple’s online harassment cited my protected activity as the reason for termination & retaliation
  • I was no longer an "at will" employee (see Banko v Apple)
 

Tweet About Employee Ear Canal Scans / Ear Biometrics
  • Nonsense Substantively:
    • Even though this tweet is pretext, this tweet was protected activity itself thus Apple admitted to retaliatory animus 
    • No Intellectual Property was shared
    • No unknown information was shared. Information shared was already made public by Apple, years prior
    • Post was protected opposition activity
    • Privacy is a fundamental, constitutional right in California and employees are protected when declining/opposing invasions of privacy
    • There was no informed consent due to public policy & coercion
    • I already said “no” in 2018
  • Nonsense Contextually/Procedurally: 
    • Apple did not contact me about it for 12 days, & investigation would not require that long
    • Apple has not fired the people who previously spoke publicly about the ear scanning and/or user studies
 

Face “Gobbler” App
  • Nonsense Substantively:
    • Even though this tweet/article is pretext, this tweet was protected activity itself thus Apple admitted to retaliatory animus 
    • No Intellectual Property was shared
    • Posts were protected opposition activity
    • Information shared was already made public by an Apple manager responsible for “Gobbler”, years prior
    • Privacy is a fundamental, constitutional right in California
    • The Gobbler application violates California laws, federal laws, & international laws
    • There was no informed consent due to public policy & coercion
  • Nonsense Contextually/Procedurally:
    • Apple did not contact me about it for 10 days
    • Apple's harassing legal email on Sept 15 protested my Protected Concerted Activity & my complaints of criminal activity by Apple
    • Business Conduct complaint filed by [redacted] on Sept 15 was only hours before Apple’s lawyers emailed me, not allowing time for investigation & smells of pretext 
    • Apple did not fire the people who “leaked” Face ID in 2017
    • Apple did not fire the Gobbler engineering manager posting publicly about Gobbler studies for years
    • As for the Sept 15 Business Conduct complaint - after acquired evidence may mitigate damages, not culpability

Failure to Cooperate with Investigation
  • Nonsense Substantively​:
    • ​There was no refusal to cooperate - I agreed to cooperate (Sept 9 Termination Transcript)
    • Interrogator had no justification for requiring conversation “within the hour” about supposed conduct that occurred 12 days prior
  • Nonsense Contextually/Procedurally:
    • No warnings were given before termination
    • No explanation was given for the contact that day
    • Employee Relations contacted me after the posts in question and from Aug 28 through Sept 8, Apple didn’t mention anything about Gobbler or ear scans, & instead Apple continued to pretend they were investigating my concerns
 

Privacy Complaints

  • California AG: violation of California privacy laws 
  • European Commission, European Data Protection Supervisor: unlawful employer privacy & data collection policies & practices 
  • UK Data Protection Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): unlawful employer privacy & data collection policies & practices 
  • Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL): unlawful employer privacy & data collection policies & practices 
  • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC): unlawful employer privacy & data collection policies & practices 
  • Data Protection Commission (Ireland): unlawful employer privacy & data collection policies & practices 
 

​U.S. EPA - Complaints

 Complaint: No ID, 29 AUG 2021
 
​Environmental Violations 
  • Complaint re: Apple & the TRW Microwave Superfund site (Aug 29 2021)
  • Complaint re: Apple & the Secret Semiconductor Manufacturing Plant (June 2023)

U.S. EPA OIG
  • CERCLA non-compliance, conflicts of interest (article)​
 

​California EPA & OSHA - Complaints

  • CA Department of Labor, DIR Retaliation: labor law violations, unlawful policies, Prop 65 whistleblower
  • CalEPA: environmental violations; expired land use covenant
  • CalOSHA: labor law violation & unsafe work conditions (#160-1855100)

​Environmental Complaint ​
 complaint: COMP-51794, 30 AUG 2021​
 

Witness Intimidation

Federal & California
  • U.S. DOJ FBI: federal witness intimidation, harassment, & tampering; threats & intimidation; mailing threatening communications; unlawful surveillance, wire tapping, & hacking [18 USC 1512, 1513, 1514; 18 USC 1505; 15 USC §78u-6(h)(1)(A)(iii); 18 USC 371; 18 U.S. CODE § 876 ] 
  • Federal & state: witness intimidation & tampering, threats, coercion, retaliation, & harassment 
  • U.S. FTC & U.S. SEC: unlawful data collection & invasion of privacy 

California 
  • Santa Clara PD & DA: repeated attempted & successful home break-ins, installation of surveillance equipment (May 26 2022, May 31 2022, August 9 2022).

Washington state Litigation 
  • A meritless and retaliatory lawsuit was filed against me in February 2022, and a chilling gag order was unlawfully granted against me from March 2022 through December 2022. The state court was based in Seattle, Washington and the lawsuit was filed by an Apple Global Security ("Worldwide Loyalty") employee claiming it was filed because I filed an NLRB charge against Apple and openly admitting I had not initiated contact the petitioner since September 2021 (over four months prior). I won the appeal in September 2022, the opposing party did not attempt to appeal the decision in my favor, and the order was vacated and district court case formally dismissed as meritless in December of 2022.
  • The appellate case I won pro se was then cited in a Supreme Court of the United States Amicus brief in December 2022, detailing this gag-order lawsuit against me as political persecution and warning SCOTUS to not allow vague and over broad state laws like what I was subject to in the state of Washington, as these statutes can enable judges to attempt to criminalize protected speech and unlawfully restrict freedom of expression.
  • Prior to winning the state appeal, in June 2022 I had also sued the entire state of Washington in federal district court over several unconstitutional statutes that were used against me and allowed the lawsuit and order. I argued the statutes were facially unlawful and a violation of a number of sections of the US Constitution. My facial attack was dismissed on temporal and jurisdictional grounds with federalism concerns as the state appeal was still pending. 
 

The Secret Silicon Fabrication Factory Next to Ashley's Apartment

Start in 2015, Apple's apparently been operating a secret semiconductor manufacturing plant venting an incredible amount of solvent fumes and toxic gases directly into the exterior air outside the windows of thousands of apartment windows.
 

Ashley's Apple Office: The "TRW Microwave" Superfund Site

US Dept of Labor - TRW Microwave Superfund - Overview Memo
File Size: 6234 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
From Jan 2017 through Sept 2021, Ashley worked in Apple's "Stewart 1" office building at 825 Stewart Drive, Sunnyvale CA. Apple's leased the building since ~2015.
​
The building & the property it sits on were declared an EPA Superfund site in the 1990s. The EPA refers to it as the "TRW Microwave" Superfund site. The responsible party (who dumped the chemicals & thus who is still responsible for cleaning them up safely) is Northrop Grumman who acquired TRW Microwave.  

Due to the close proximity and intermingled contaminated groundwater plumes of two other Superfund sites, the TRW Superfund site is considered part of the "Triple Site," a group of three Superfunds. 

EPA Websites: 
Press Coverage:  ​
VOC Plumes in the Eastern Sunnyvale Area including Triple Site and TRW Microwave
VOC Plumes in the Eastern Sunnyvale Area including Triple Site and TRW Microwave
GeoTracker page for TRW Microwave Superfund site
GeoTracker page for TRW Microwave Superfund site

For more information on ​Superfund & other chemical clean up sites in Silicon Valley, see What's in the Air?

Retaliation Timeline

  • 2015 Feb - Gjovik joins Apple. She works in Software Engineering from 2015-2016 facing a hostile work environment, and then transfers to Hardware Engineering in 2017 & faces a hostile work environment and discrimination there until she is fired in 2021. She receives positive reviews, salary increases, bonuses, and additional RSU grants every year she works at Apple. 
  • 2019 Sept - Gjovik suffers bizarre fainting spell at her Apple office in Sunnyvale.
  • 2020 Feb - Gjovik moves into Santa Clara Square apartments in Santa Clara. Gjovik becomes severely ill for seven months & doctors can not figure out why her blood pressure is volatile, heart rate is slow, experiencing premature ventricular contractions, covered in rashes, & experiencing tumors on her skin and thyroid with frequent debilitating fainting spells similar to what she experienced at her office in 2019.
  • 2020 Sept - Gjovik discovers apartment were built on a Honeywell Superfund site groundwater plume, and that there is an Apple office next door that also appears to have pollution on site. 
  • 2020 Sept - Gjovik contacts Apple Real Estate to inquire about the Apple office. Apple will not comment on the office but does suggest she use "Extreme Condition Leave" time-off to move out of her current apartment. 
  • 2020 Oct - Gjovik moves out of apartment (and does use the special time off). Gjovik's good health returns, but she is traumatized by the health crisis & to also learn about how polluted the area is.
  • 2021 March 15 - Gjovik publishes article about the experience with the apartment & struggles to get any help from the government in investigating issues. Additional victims from the apartment complex come forward after reading her article, but the government still will not help. Gjovik publishes an educational website about toxic waste chemical exposure in California. 
  • 2021 March 17 - Apple contacts Gjovik & coworkers asking to test their Superfund office for "vapor intrusion." Apple does not tell them its a Superfund site or explain what vapor intrusion is.
  • 2021 March 22 - Apple boss told Gjovik not to talk about her safety concerns with coworkers. Says she's only allowed to talk to her bosses, Apple HR, or Apple EH&S. Boss says it was "only a warning" due to her "mental health issues," & then tells her he received feedback she was "too hard on the white man" during a recent diversity training. Gjovik attempts to explain labor laws to her boss who interrupts her, loudly stating "thank you for taking the feedback."
  • 2021 April 2 - Gjovik meets with Apple EH&S and raises concerns about safety & CERCLA (Superfund) compliance at her office. Apple tells Gjovik that employees have "no Right to Know" they work on Superfund sites. 
  • 2021 April - Gjovik starts reporting Apple's weird behavior about the site to the US EPA.
  • 2021 April - Gjovik asks for help from Apple Employee Relations to "explain labor laws" to her boss - but Employee Relations refuses, & instead opens a sexism investigation into Gjovik's bosses - despite Gjovik's protests that it will only cause retaliation and does not want an investigation.
  • 2021 April - US EPA begins asking the responsible party (Northrop Grumman) for background information & for the status of the site
  • 2021 May 12 - US EPA asks Northrop Grumman for the first inspection report on the Sub-Slat Depressurization system on the roof of the site (was written 2020 Nov but never submitted to US EPA).
  • 2021 May 12 - Gjovik submits Worker's Compensation form for the 2019 fainting spell from chemical exposure at the office. 
  • 2021 May 17 - Apple now tells Gjovik they won't test the air in Gjovik's office or answer any more of her questions. Apple gives Gjovik a "five-point balancing test" if she wants to talk to her coworkers about safety.
  • 2021 June - Apple tells Gjovik she has to come back to work at her Superfund office in September unless she files an ADA request form to about chemical exposure. Gjovik protests. Apple also requests Gjovik give Apple Inc access to all of Gjovik's medical records. Apple also tells Gjovik to consider taking medical leave if she's upset about all the retaliation. Gjovik refuses medical leave (that doesn't fix hostile work environments) but resorts to requesting ADA accommodations under a "Multiple Chemical Sensitivities" diagnosis due to fear of her office. Gjovik requests meeting with the head of Employee Retaliations to understand what the hell is going on at Apple.
  • 2021 June/July - Apple bosses begin removing Gjovik from desirable projects and reassigning her to very unfavorable projects. Bosses quadruple Gjovik's workload. Bosses refuse to act on complaints of harassment and retaliation, tell Gjovik she can quit if she doesn't like it. One of Gjovik's two bosses sends an email communicating as such in June & then never contacts or responds to Gjovik ever again.
  • 2021 June/July - Gjovik begins organizing with coworkers around concerns about systemic retaliation, cover-ups of harassment and discrimination, abusive use of medical leave & ADA requests, and a chilling culture of censorship and surveillance. Gjovik begins protesting Apple's overly restrictive NDAs on Apple Slack and in smaller discussions with coworkers.
  • 2021 July - Gjovik begins raising concerns about workplace safety related to COVID-19 as well, internally and externally. New York Times quotes Gjovik critiquing Apple's plan to return to work during the Delta surge. Gjovik also submits a public records request for information on Apple's reporting to the government about COVID outbreaks since they were not sharing it with workers. Gjovik notifies coworkers & Apple she filed it.
  • 2021 July 2 - Apple notifies Gjovik there are cracks in the floor of the site & they will repair the cracks. Gjovik asks for Apple to test the air before they fix the cracks. Apple refuses. Gjovik asks Apple to consult US EPA. Apple says they don't have to tell US EPA anything about it. Gjovik notifies US EPA about all of it. Gjovik notifies Apple she notified US EPA.
  • 2021 July - US EPA reviews the Sub-Slat Depressurization report for Gjovik's office & notices that the SSD system vents are too low to disburse the chemicals into the air, and they are too close to the HVAC intake for the building. 
  • 2021 July - Gjovik begins raising concerns internally & externally, that Apple is covering up safety issues, at least partially due to the prior head of the US EPA now running Lobbying for Apple, and also the prior CEO of Northrop Grumman on Apple's Board of Directors & Chairing the Finance & Audit Committee. 
  • 2021 July - Apple Employee Relations supposedly begins investigating Gjovik's complaints of hostile work environment, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation since she started in 2015.
  • 2021 July 26 - Gjovik starts a thread on Apple Slack asking if any other workers were retaliated against for simply raising concerns at Apple. Many people respond to the thread and privately confirming they suffered something similar as to what Gjovik had.
  • 2021 July 26 - US EPA informs Northrop Grumman and Apple they will be ordering a safety inspection of Gjovik's office. They arrange for the inspection on August 19 2021. Gjovik doesn't learn about this until May 2022.
  • 2021 Aug 4 - Sunnyvale city request on site hazardous materials/waste inspection of Gjovik's office. City requests August 19 but Apple declines. Inspection scheduled for Sept 9 2021.
  • 2021 Aug 4 - Gjovik is suddenly "removed from the workplace & all workplace interactions" under the premise that its somehow part of the Employee Relations investigation.
  • 2021 Aug 4 - Apple EH&S sends contractors and workers to Gjovik's office for unknown testing and repairs related to vapor intrusion mitigation. They spend multiple days a week on site before EPA arrives Aug 19 2021.
  • 2021 Aug 19 - US EPA inspects Gjovik's office & finds a number of issues related to CERCLA compliance & safety concerns, many of which were the same issues Gjovik tried to raise starting in April. US EPA requests corrections from Apple & Northrop Grumman.
  • 2021 Aug 23 - Gjovik files Apple Business Conduct complaint about what believes to be a cover-up related to the office, as well as conflicts of interests with Lisa Jackson & Ronald Sugar related to the matter. Gjovik asks if Sugar reported his COI when he was on the Apple Board & when Apple decided to rent the office in 2014, less than five years after Sugar retired from Northrop. 
  • 2021 Aug 26 - Gjovik files NLRB charge against Apple for unfair labor practices & retaliation. It is promptly disclosed on social media & in the press.
  • 2021 Aug 29 - Gjovik files California DOL retaliation & US DOL whistleblower retaliation charges against Apple.  They are promptly disclosed on social media & in the press.
  • 2021 Aug 31 - Gjovik files SEC tip about the conflicts of interest & apparent cover-up.  It is promptly disclosed on social media & in the press.
  • 2021 Aug 31 - Gjovik blows the whistle on Apple's surveillance of employees & coercive harvesting of employee biometrics & other private data. 
  • 2021 Sept - Gjovik files several complaints to the US DOJ and FBI about Apple's corruption, violations of sanctions laws, and retaliation against her as a whistleblower.
  • 2021 Sept 9 - The City of Sunnyvale inspects Gjovik's Apple office & cites Apple for hazardous violations. 
  • 2021 Sept 9 - Gjovik is abruptly contacted by an Apple "Workplace Violence" interrogator who demands to talk to her on the phone within in the hour. Gjovik asks to keep the conversation in writing and complaints of federal witness intimidation the day before her NLRB affidavit. The interrogator swiftly suspends Gjovik's account access & claims she refuses to participate. Gjovik receives an email from her VP a few hours later notifying her she's been terminated. The letter does not explain what she did other than vague accusations, including failure to participate in an investigation. [See termination transcript]
  • 2021 Sept 10 - Gjovik's first affidavit with the NLRB for her unfair labor practices charges against Apple. 
  • 2021 Sept - Gjovik files additional charges against Apple for the additional retaliation. 
  • 2021 Sept - Apple mails Gjovik's possessions back to her: broken, in a box with glass shards, & with one items compromised with an inserted listening device Gjovik would not discover until 2022. Before the package arrives, an account, believed to be Apple, suggests it may contain the severed head of one of Gjovik's loved ones.
  • 2021 Nov - Lisa Jackson, from her @apple email account, attempts to hand select the US EPA executive who would oversee Gjovik's Apple office. US EPA declines to accept her meddling.
  • 2022 Jan - Gjovik files additional charges against Apple for additional retaliation & witness intimidation.
  • 2022 March - Gjovik sees Apple's formal justification for firing her for the first time. Apple says its because she exposed & protested Apple's surveillance of employees, and their coercive harvesting of employee biometrics & personal data. 
  • 2022 May - Gjovik finally learns there was an inspection of her Apple office on Aug 19. She also learns for the first time about the HVAC/SSD issues.
  • 2022 July - Gjovik wins appeal of her unemployment insurance case. An Administrative Law Judge finds Gjovik was terminated for reasons other than misconduct by Gjovik. 
  • 2022 Sept - Gjovik publishes open letter to US DOL, US NLRB, & US EEOC complaining of rampant conflicts of interest & US gov corruption with Apple about labor/employee disputes, noting her experience & pointing to cases from other employees.
  • 2022 Oct - Gjovik finally learns that the US EPA requested the inspection of her office on July 26, which was one week before Gjovik was suspended. 
  • 2022 Dec - Gjovik finally learns the Aug 19 2021 EPA inspection of her office was formally due to Gjovik's disclosures. 
  • 2023 Jan - Gjovik finally learns of the Sept 9 2021 city inspection of her office.
  • 2023 Feb - Gjovik finally learns about Apple's secret silicon fab plant next to her apartment where she got sick in 2020.

Note: US NLRB, US DOL, & California DOL cases are all still pending awaiting decisions.