UK accuses Apple of unfairly dismissing worker over harassment allegations

A UK employment tribunal has ruled that Apple must pay compensation to an employee it fired for allegedly harassing a female colleague.

The incident took place at Apple’s London site in Battersea, which houses the company’s UK headquarters as well as an Apple Store. Process analyst Christoph Sieberer took two photos of a woman and shared them with a male colleague who allegedly had a crush on her, according to The telegraph.

One of the images showed the woman chatting with colleagues, while another was taken three floors above her in a communal area. In response to receiving the images, the male colleague introduced himself as Thomas and replied: “That’s my girlfriend.”

He also replied, “Look at my daughter over there…so cute…struggling but still so beautiful.”

The co-worker, who is the only one named Thomas, then showed one of the images to another woman at Apple. She informed her manager, and following an investigation, Apple fired Thomas and Sieberer for sexual harassment.

A British employment tribunal has ruled that Apple had unfairly dismissed Sieberer. Mr Justice N Walker said there was “no reasonable cause” for the dismissal and there was no evidence that anyone who saw the photos was offended.

It is unclear on what basis Judge Walker concluded that the woman who reported the images was not offended by them. The judge also criticized Apple’s harassment policies, calling them “vague.”

Justice Walker ruled that taking the photos was “arguably an invasion of privacy… we live in a world where there are cameras in all sorts of places.” The judgment said, however, that the photos should not have been taken.

Sieberer reportedly admitted that he should not have taken the photos. Apple will now have to pay damages, the amount of which will be determined later by the court.

It is not known how much these damages will amount to, but the judgment contains an unclear specification regarding their amount.

According to the court’s decision, Apple wanted to reduce Mr. Sieberer’s regular compensation by 100 percent, which would likely mean he would receive nothing at all. The court, however, ruled that his compensation should be reduced by 10 percent.

The ruling does not appear to require Apple to rehire Sieberer, implying that the damages will be tied to his previous salary in some way. There is no mention of damages owed to Thomas.

Apple has not publicly commented on the decision. During the trial, the company told the court that it changed its harassment policy following more than a dozen complaints from women.

It’s unclear what the specific complaints were, but in 2021, the #AppleToo movement began posting reports of harassment. In the first four days of its call for such reports, the movement received more than 500.