Julia Love

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – A colleague at Apple (NASDAQ) who shared publicly instances of harassment and discrimination within the workplace said that she was fired on Thursday.

    Janneke Parrish, an Apple program manager, said the iPhone maker informed her on Thursday that she had been terminated for deleting material on company equipment while she was under investigation over the leaking of a company town hall to media, which she told the New York Times she did not do.

    Parrish told Reuters she deleted apps that contained details of her finances and other personal information before handing her devices in to Apple as part of the probe.

    Parrish said she believes she was fired for her activism in the workplace.

    “To me, this seems clearly retaliatory for the fact that I was speaking out about abuses that have happened at my employer, pay equity and, generally, about our workplace conditions,” she said.

    Apple said Friday it does not discuss specific employee matters.

    Apple has recently experienced other examples of employee unrest. Two Apple employees revealed to Reuters that last month they had brought charges against Apple at the National Labor Relations Board. Apple employees were accused of retaliation against the company and for preventing pay discussion among their workers, among other accusations.

Apple stated that they are “deeply committed” to building and maintaining an inclusive work environment and take “all concerns” seriously.

    U.S. law protects the right of employees to openly discuss certain topics, including working conditions, discrimination and equal pay.

    Over the summer, current and former Apple employees began detailing on social media what they said were experiences of harassment and discrimination. Parrish started publishing stories via social media with some of his colleagues. The weekly digest was titled “#AppleToo.”

    Parrish said she was careful to respect company rules and never shared information that she believed to be confidential. After being investigated at the September end, Parrish said that she still published the #AppleToo digest.

    “If anything, it’s made the importance of that work clearer than ever, when Apple’s response to criticism is to start internal investigations into those that it wants to see gone,” she said. It’s much easier for them than for us to listen to them.