Apple Gender Pay Discrimination Litigation

Overview

On June 13, 2024, Cohen Milstein and co-counsel, Altshuler Berzon and Outten & Golden, filed a class action gender pay discrimination lawsuit against Apple Inc. in San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of two female employees, who claim that since 2020, Apple has violated California’s Equal Pay Act and Fair Employment and Housing Act by systematically paying women lower wages than male employees who perform substantially similar work.

The women represent more than 12,000 current and former female employees in Apple’s engineering, marketing, and AppleCare divisions in California.

Case Background

Apple Inc., headquartered in Cupertino, California, is one of the world’s largest developers of computer and phone-related products and services. Plaintiffs allege that Apple maintains a centrally determined and uniformly applied policy and/or practice of paying its female employees less than male employees for substantially similar work. In addition, they claim that the tech giant knows or should have known about these substantial pay disparities for years and has yet to take any action to remedy the inequality.

Specifically, the women claim that before the Fall of 2017, Apple asked job candidates for prior pay information and, when that practice became unlawful in January 2018, Apple continued to inquire about prior pay under the guise of candidates’ pay expectations. Apple used this information to set starting salaries, resulting in lower pay rates for women than for men who perform substantially similar work. In effect, Plaintiffs claim that Apple’s policy or practice of collecting information about pay expectations and using that information to set starting salaries has perpetuated past pay disparities and paying women less than men performing substantially similar work.

Additionally, Plaintiffs claim that Apple’s performance evaluation system is biased against women because for scored categories such as teamwork and leadership, men are rewarded and women are penalized for the same behaviors. Because performance evaluation scores have a relationship to bonuses, Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and pay increases at Apple, Apple’s biased performance evaluation system furthers the disparate impact on women and widens the pay gap.

As a result of Apple’s discriminatory and unlawful pay policies and/or practices, Plaintiffs and putative Class Members have been denied fair compensation for work performed since 2020 and are entitled to compensation due, interest thereon, and liquidated damages, plus interest. In addition to monetary relief, Plaintiffs also seek declaratory and injunctive relief.

Plaintiffs seek all legal and equitable relief available under the California Equal Pay Act, California Labor Code §1197.5; the Fair Employment and Housing Act, Government Code §12900 et seq.; California Business & Professions Code §17200 et seq.; and the California Private Attorneys’ General Act of 2004, California Labor Code § 2698 et seq.

Learn More About the Case

If you are a current or former Apple employee in California, we would like to hear from you. We would like to know if your salary may have been impacted by this allegedly discriminatory practice at Apple. You may be eligible to join the lawsuit.

Please contact one of the attorneys below: