More than a dozen women have accused Apple of abusing sexual misconduct allegations they made while working for the iPhone maker, according to a Financial Times report published Thursday.
The 15 current and former employees of the Silicon Valley giant reported that they either retaliated against the company or received a disappointing or counterproductive response.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but told the newspaper it was working hard to investigate complaints of wrongdoing, adding that it would be making changes to its training processes.
Sexual harassment or discrimination scandals rocked Silicon Valley in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which spurred action against the tech industry’s male-dominated culture, attitudes and behaviors.
One of the women cited in the story, Megan Mohr, was inspired by #metoo to report to Apple in 2018 that a male colleague had removed her shirt and bra and photographed her after a night of drinking while Mohr briefly fell asleep.
After speaking to Human Resources about her allegation, the company determined that the worker’s behavior was potentially criminal but did not violate any policy related to his work at Apple, the story reported.
She quit her job in January after 14 years with the company and is now asking the company to review its policies closely, the report said.
The women interviewed for the story make up just a fraction of the roughly 165,000 people the company employs worldwide.
Another woman cited in the story, Jayna Whitt, wrote a blog post saying a romantic relationship with a fellow Apple attorney had gone bad and dangerous.
She said the man was unstable, physically violent and emotionally abusive, but when Whitt told Apple about it, the company advised her to call the police if she felt unsafe.
Her complaint to the company about the man’s behavior eventually led to her being reprimanded for allowing a personal relationship to interfere with her work, Whitt’s blog post said.
Apple isn’t the only big tech company facing allegations of abuse or handling wrongdoing claims. Game studio Activision Blizzard and Elon Musk’s Tesla have both been rocked by lawsuits.
Six women sued Tesla in December, alleging a culture of sexual harassment at the electric-car maker’s California plant and other facilities that included unwanted touching, whistling and retaliation for those who complained.
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