Ashley's Apple Saga
Ashley Gjovik, a former Senior Engineering Program Manager at Apple, documented and exposed unsafe work conditions, disturbing surveillance and intimidation practices, and systemic malfeasance at Apple Inc. After facing increasing retaliation in response to her attempts to escalate her concerns internally, she took her complaints to regulators, the press, and the public in August of 2021.
Due to Apple's culture of secrecy, Gjovik was likely the first corporate Apple employee to publicly file charges against Apple, while employed, with a number of government agencies including the U.S. EPA, U.S. NLRB, US Dept. of Labor, U.S. SEC, U.S Dept. of Justice, and the California Dept. of Labor. Apple fired Gjovik without explanation less than two weeks after her charges were filed and made public, and the day before she was scheduled to testify about Apple to a federal agency. Gjovik complained to Apple about ‘witness intimidation’ hours before she received a vague notice of termination.
Gjovik’s disclosures to the US EPA led to federal inspections of Apple’s operations at Silicon Valley Superfund sites in August 2021, where the regulator found a number of potential safety issues that put Gjovik and her coworkers at risk for exposure to carcinogenic chemicals. The US EPA ordered numerous corrective actions in 2022, including mandatory chemical exposure testing at Gjovik’s office in 2023. The outcome of Gjovik’s disclosures to the US EPA has been revealed solely due to her persistent FOIA requests and relentless investigation into the safety of the work conditions of her now ex-coworkers.
Gjovik's complaints about her Superfund office in 2021 (825 Stewart Drive) were the direct result of knowledge gained from a traumatic experience in 2020 where she fell severely ill and became disabled living at a new apartment complex in Santa Clara. She discovered the apartments were built on a toxic clean-up site and subsequent environmental exposure doctors diagnosed her illness as acute exposure to solvents. Through the experience of advocating for further mitigation and public health intervention at the site in late 2020 and early 2021, Gjovik learned about the science and regulatory obligations for toxic waste clean-up sites. She published an expose in March 2021 which led additional exposure victims to come forward. In February of 2023, Gjovik's Public Records Act requests revealed that in addition to the apartments being located on state and federal toxic waste clean-up sites, that her ex-employer, Apple, was also operating a secret semiconductor manufacturing plant < 300 feet from the windows of the apartments. Gjovik uncovered a number of regulatory violations and spills/leaks of very dangerous chemicals around the time she and others were ill. On June 12 2023, Gjovik filed a complaint to US EPA, California EPA, California Air Resource Board, and Santa Clara HazMat about Apple's secret silicon fabrication activities at 3250 Scott Blvd.
Her charges and disclosures to the US NLRB led to two decisions of merit in her favor and three more still pending. On January 30 2023, the US NLRB found merit in Gjovik’s allegations that Apple’s employment policies and non-disclosure agreements, and a threatening email sent by the CEO to staff in September 2021, all violated federal labor law. Gjovik’s charges led to the first finding of a nation-wide violation of the NLRA by Apple, and any resolution will require a nation-wide remedy from Apple.
Gjovik’s policy charges, exemplified by her retaliation charges, are also anticipated to potentially be a vehicle for the NLRB to reform national labor law precedent for all applicable US employers, creating a more employee-friendly standard for workplace polices and employment agreements. Gjovik’s three remaining NLRB charges allege she was harassed, threatened, intimidated, coerced, surveilled, and retaliated against for exercising her federally protected labor rights and for reporting Apple’s misconduct to the NLRB. Apple’s explanation for firing Gjovik vaguely cited their confidentiality policies, which have now been found to violate federal law.
Gjovik also filed whistleblower charges to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Whistleblower Protection Program with allegations of retaliation for exercising federally protected whistleblower rights under CERCLA (42 U.S.C. §9610), SOX (18 U.S.C.A. §1514A), and OSH Act (29 U.S.C. §660) statutes. Her California Department of Labor retaliation and policy cases were queued pending the federal investigation. In September 2023, Gjovik "kicked out" her SOX case and California Department of Labor charges into her civil lawsuit in a US District Court. In January 2024, Gjovik brought her CERCLA Whistleblower Retaliation case to the US Department of Labor Office of Administrative Judges. See: Ashley Gjovik v Apple Inc, 2024-CER-00001, Boston, Massachusetts District Office.
In March 2022, Gjovik learned Apple’s proffered justification for her termination was that Apple supposedly fired her because she publicly disclosed information about Apple’s invasive surveillance practices, coercive biometrics collection, and disquieting medical studies on employees. In response to Apple’s claim, Gjovik filed additional charges domestically and with foreign governments on those matters, sharing even more information about the programs and her concerns. Gjovik’s retaliation cases argue her disclosures were not only protected, but that Apple’s original conduct was unlawful – calling into question the legality of several of Apple’s consumer products. Following Gjovik’s charges, Bavaria is investigating Apple’s biometrics engineering office in the German region, and the U.S. FTC is also looking into her complaint that Apple developed Face ID with coerced and otherwise nonconsensual data. The US NLRB and US Department of Labor will also rule on the issue as part of Gjovik’s retaliation cases.
By 2023, Gjovik still did not have final decisions on her retaliation charges against Apple. Further, her two-year statute of limitations for many potential civil claims was to expire on September 9 2021, the two-year anniversary of Apple's depraved termination of Gjovik in retaliation for her informing to the government and in an attempt to silence her. In order to preserve her civil claims, on September 7 2023, Gjovik filed a lawsuit in a US District Court against Apple. The first Decision was issued May 20 2024 in favor of Gjovik. Gjovik continues to represent herself pro se as her own lawyer. See: Ashley Gjovik v Apple Inc, 3:23-CV-04597, US District Court, Northern District of California, SF Division.
Gjovik worked at Apple for over six years, where she was responsible for high-risk projects including managing entire iOS software updates, leading software failure analysis following new product introduction, functioning as a chief of staff for several executives, and working in Apple’s legal department where she ironically led efforts to establish Apple’s first company-wide AI ethics policy.
Gjovik is now a lawyer – she graduated from law school in 2022 with a Juris Doctor and a certificate in Public International Law, with honors. She also attended Oxford University in 2021 for an intensive Transitional Justice program, which she said inspired the holistic approach she has taken attempting to reform Apple’s business practices. She founded the D&G Center in 2022 and was elected as the Whistleblower Officer on the IBA Anti-Corruption Compliance subcommittee in 2023. Gjovik is representing herself pro se on all of her Apple cases and charges – with strategic and moral support from a community of human rights activists, whistleblowers, and labor organizers.
Location Resources:
Due to Apple's culture of secrecy, Gjovik was likely the first corporate Apple employee to publicly file charges against Apple, while employed, with a number of government agencies including the U.S. EPA, U.S. NLRB, US Dept. of Labor, U.S. SEC, U.S Dept. of Justice, and the California Dept. of Labor. Apple fired Gjovik without explanation less than two weeks after her charges were filed and made public, and the day before she was scheduled to testify about Apple to a federal agency. Gjovik complained to Apple about ‘witness intimidation’ hours before she received a vague notice of termination.
Gjovik’s disclosures to the US EPA led to federal inspections of Apple’s operations at Silicon Valley Superfund sites in August 2021, where the regulator found a number of potential safety issues that put Gjovik and her coworkers at risk for exposure to carcinogenic chemicals. The US EPA ordered numerous corrective actions in 2022, including mandatory chemical exposure testing at Gjovik’s office in 2023. The outcome of Gjovik’s disclosures to the US EPA has been revealed solely due to her persistent FOIA requests and relentless investigation into the safety of the work conditions of her now ex-coworkers.
Gjovik's complaints about her Superfund office in 2021 (825 Stewart Drive) were the direct result of knowledge gained from a traumatic experience in 2020 where she fell severely ill and became disabled living at a new apartment complex in Santa Clara. She discovered the apartments were built on a toxic clean-up site and subsequent environmental exposure doctors diagnosed her illness as acute exposure to solvents. Through the experience of advocating for further mitigation and public health intervention at the site in late 2020 and early 2021, Gjovik learned about the science and regulatory obligations for toxic waste clean-up sites. She published an expose in March 2021 which led additional exposure victims to come forward. In February of 2023, Gjovik's Public Records Act requests revealed that in addition to the apartments being located on state and federal toxic waste clean-up sites, that her ex-employer, Apple, was also operating a secret semiconductor manufacturing plant < 300 feet from the windows of the apartments. Gjovik uncovered a number of regulatory violations and spills/leaks of very dangerous chemicals around the time she and others were ill. On June 12 2023, Gjovik filed a complaint to US EPA, California EPA, California Air Resource Board, and Santa Clara HazMat about Apple's secret silicon fabrication activities at 3250 Scott Blvd.
Her charges and disclosures to the US NLRB led to two decisions of merit in her favor and three more still pending. On January 30 2023, the US NLRB found merit in Gjovik’s allegations that Apple’s employment policies and non-disclosure agreements, and a threatening email sent by the CEO to staff in September 2021, all violated federal labor law. Gjovik’s charges led to the first finding of a nation-wide violation of the NLRA by Apple, and any resolution will require a nation-wide remedy from Apple.
Gjovik’s policy charges, exemplified by her retaliation charges, are also anticipated to potentially be a vehicle for the NLRB to reform national labor law precedent for all applicable US employers, creating a more employee-friendly standard for workplace polices and employment agreements. Gjovik’s three remaining NLRB charges allege she was harassed, threatened, intimidated, coerced, surveilled, and retaliated against for exercising her federally protected labor rights and for reporting Apple’s misconduct to the NLRB. Apple’s explanation for firing Gjovik vaguely cited their confidentiality policies, which have now been found to violate federal law.
Gjovik also filed whistleblower charges to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Whistleblower Protection Program with allegations of retaliation for exercising federally protected whistleblower rights under CERCLA (42 U.S.C. §9610), SOX (18 U.S.C.A. §1514A), and OSH Act (29 U.S.C. §660) statutes. Her California Department of Labor retaliation and policy cases were queued pending the federal investigation. In September 2023, Gjovik "kicked out" her SOX case and California Department of Labor charges into her civil lawsuit in a US District Court. In January 2024, Gjovik brought her CERCLA Whistleblower Retaliation case to the US Department of Labor Office of Administrative Judges. See: Ashley Gjovik v Apple Inc, 2024-CER-00001, Boston, Massachusetts District Office.
In March 2022, Gjovik learned Apple’s proffered justification for her termination was that Apple supposedly fired her because she publicly disclosed information about Apple’s invasive surveillance practices, coercive biometrics collection, and disquieting medical studies on employees. In response to Apple’s claim, Gjovik filed additional charges domestically and with foreign governments on those matters, sharing even more information about the programs and her concerns. Gjovik’s retaliation cases argue her disclosures were not only protected, but that Apple’s original conduct was unlawful – calling into question the legality of several of Apple’s consumer products. Following Gjovik’s charges, Bavaria is investigating Apple’s biometrics engineering office in the German region, and the U.S. FTC is also looking into her complaint that Apple developed Face ID with coerced and otherwise nonconsensual data. The US NLRB and US Department of Labor will also rule on the issue as part of Gjovik’s retaliation cases.
By 2023, Gjovik still did not have final decisions on her retaliation charges against Apple. Further, her two-year statute of limitations for many potential civil claims was to expire on September 9 2021, the two-year anniversary of Apple's depraved termination of Gjovik in retaliation for her informing to the government and in an attempt to silence her. In order to preserve her civil claims, on September 7 2023, Gjovik filed a lawsuit in a US District Court against Apple. The first Decision was issued May 20 2024 in favor of Gjovik. Gjovik continues to represent herself pro se as her own lawyer. See: Ashley Gjovik v Apple Inc, 3:23-CV-04597, US District Court, Northern District of California, SF Division.
Gjovik worked at Apple for over six years, where she was responsible for high-risk projects including managing entire iOS software updates, leading software failure analysis following new product introduction, functioning as a chief of staff for several executives, and working in Apple’s legal department where she ironically led efforts to establish Apple’s first company-wide AI ethics policy.
Gjovik is now a lawyer – she graduated from law school in 2022 with a Juris Doctor and a certificate in Public International Law, with honors. She also attended Oxford University in 2021 for an intensive Transitional Justice program, which she said inspired the holistic approach she has taken attempting to reform Apple’s business practices. She founded the D&G Center in 2022 and was elected as the Whistleblower Officer on the IBA Anti-Corruption Compliance subcommittee in 2023. Gjovik is representing herself pro se on all of her Apple cases and charges – with strategic and moral support from a community of human rights activists, whistleblowers, and labor organizers.
Location Resources:
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825 Stewart Drive, Sunnyvale, California (Superfund Apple Office)
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3250 Scott Blvd, Santa Clara, California (Secret Silicon Fab)
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How it Started / How it's Going (2023)
"What a Mess" Iceberg of Apple's Misconduct (2023)
Key Reports
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US EPA: Requesting Inspection and Corrective Actions (July 2021-Feb 2022)
US EPA: 8/19/21 Inspection of TRW Microwave Superfund site
US EPA: 7/2021-4/2022 Superfund Exhaust Reentrainment into HVAC for TRW Microwave
US EPA: 4/2021 - Triple Site, Site Management Plan
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US EPA: 7/30/21 TRW Microwave Inspection Travel Request Justification (Ashley)
US EPA: 7-8/2021 Apple NDA About Environmental Inspections
US EPA: 2/2022 TRW Microwave Potentially Responsible Party, Apple Inc
US EPA: 8/29/2021 Ashley Gjovik Complaint about Apple and TRW Microwave
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High-Level Timeline (2023)
Apple Inc