According to a Financial Times article published on Thursday, more than a dozen women have accused Apple of treating sexual misconduct complaints improperly when they were employed by the iPhone manufacturer.
The 15 current and former employees of the Silicon Valley behemoth claimed to have experienced retaliation or a lacklustre or ineffective reaction from the corporation.
Although Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, it did tell the newspaper that it made adjustments to its training procedures and that it worked hard to look into misconduct accusations.
After the #MeToo movement sparked action against the male-dominated culture, attitudes, and behaviour of the tech industry, sexual harassment or discrimination incidents rocked Silicon Valley.
After hearing about #metoo, Megan Mohr, one of the women mentioned in the article, reported to Apple in 2018 that a male coworker had taken off her shirt and bra and taken pictures of her after a night of drinking together as Mohr briefly dozed off.
The business acknowledged the employee's actions was possibly criminal but did not breach any policies in the context of his position at Apple after discussing the claim with human resources, according to the account.
After spending 14 years working for the company, she left her position in January and is now requesting that its rules be carefully examined, according to the story.
The women who were interviewed for the report represent a small portion of the 165,000 employees the company has worldwide.
Jayna Whitt, another woman mentioned in the article, wrote a blog entry in which she claimed that a romantic relationship with another Apple attorney had turned terrible and was now hazardous.
When Whitt notified Apple about the alleged abuse, the company urged her to call the police if she felt frightened despite her claims that the man was unstable, physically violent, and emotionally abusive.
According to Whitt's blog post, she was disciplined for allowing a personal relationship to interfere with her employment after complaining to the business about the man's behaviour.
Activision Blizzard, a game developer, and Elon Musk's Tesla have also been embroiled in legal disputes over allegations of abuse or improper processing of misconduct claims. Apple is not the only major tech company to come under fire.
Six women filed a lawsuit against Tesla in December, alleging that the electric carmaker's California plant and other locations had a culture of sexual harassment that included unwanted groping, catcalls, and punishment for those who reported it.
