The worker established #AppleToo movement accused Epic Games of taking similar anti-labor views. washington articles report Former Apple employee Cher Scarlett filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing Epic of refusing to hire her because she supported a labor organization, was working with the NLRB, and was resisting working conditions. unfair. She claims Epic balked two days after she shared details of her advocacy work and federal testimony with recruiters for a senior web developer position.
Epic spokeswoman Elka Looking denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Item. She said Scarlett’s labor rights efforts did not influence the hiring decision and that the company had settled with others before Scarlett shared details of her activities. The winning candidate simply “gets a higher score,” claims Look.
Whether the claims are true or not, it’s no secret that Scarlett is known for challenging workplaces that are perceived as abusive and unfair. She helped draw attention to misconduct at Activision Blizzard by describing sexual harassment from 2015 to 2016. Scarlett also has three ongoing lawsuits against Apple, including an NLRB complaint about a hostile work environment. Another NLRB complaint from February says that Mozilla discriminated against her job application at that company.
The complaint against Epic also comes as tensions grow between tech companies and employees demanding better labor practices. Amazon, Apple and other companies have been resisting consolidation efforts and there have long been concerns that these brands could lay off employees frankly. Even if Scarlett fails, she’ll highlight problematic behavior across the industry.
Update 4/29/22 7:18 p.m. ET: Scarlett reached out on Twitter to add some additional details about the candidacy process. She claims most Epic employees at most levels of the interview process “know well” about her background in organizing, and many “think that’s great. ” She also hinted that the decision was made by people above those management floors.
@jonfingas Hey Jon! Just to clarify, the recruiters and people who interviewed me were well aware of labor practices. We talked about it. Most think it is great.
The form that I filled out surpassed all their thinking to the upper management. That’s where I’m interested.
– Cher Scarlett (@cherthedev) April 29, 2022
All products recommended by Engadget are handpicked by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
