Apple Signs 2nd Federal Labor Settlement Agreeing Not To Restrict Speech about Workplace

Apple Signs Second Federal Labor Settlement Agreeing to Not Restrict Speech about Workplace Health and Safety

The National Labor Relations Board, Region 21, has approved an informal settlement agreement between Apple Inc. and charging party Ashley M. Gjøvik, resolving the allegations in the agency's unfair labor practice complaint in Apple Inc. (Case 32-CA-282142). Under the agreement, Apple must sign, post, and email a federal Notice to Employees stating, among other commitments, that it will not tell employees not to speak with others about their working conditions, including workplace environmental health and safety concerns; will not require employees to apply a “balancing test” before communicating health and safety concerns to coworkers; will not direct employees to raise such concerns with the company before speaking to others; will not direct employees to refrain from talking with other employees while on administrative leave; and will not impliedly threaten employees with discipline for discussing working conditions.

The settlement resolves allegations, developed through a multi-year federal investigation, that in 2021 an Apple engineering director and two Corporate Employee Relations representatives unlawfully interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, in violation of Section 8(a)(1). According to the amended complaint issued by NLRB Region 21 on September 25, 2025, the conduct included directing an employee to refrain from discussing workplace environmental health and safety concerns and characterizing that directive as “a warning”; imposing preconditions on employee speech about health and safety; and instructing an employee on administrative leave not to communicate with coworkers. Apple entered the settlement without admitting any violation of the Act.

This is the second Board settlement Apple has signed arising from charges filed by Ms. Gjøvik. In April 2025, in Case 32-CA-284428, Apple entered a settlement addressing unlawful confidentiality, non-disclosure, and related employment policies on a nationwide basis.

On August 24, 2026, Ms. Gjøvik executed the settlement agreement and simultaneously e-filed a Charging Party’s Joinder in Settlement Agreement, Express Reservation of Rights, and Statement of Position and Concerns for the Record, together with exhibits. The filing makes clear that her joinder is limited to the Act allegations resolved by the agreement, and that she releases and waives nothing else: her pending civil litigation and her proceedings before the United States Department of Labor continue unaffected, and the evidence underlying the federal investigation remains fully preserved.

The filed Statement also objects to the September 25, 2025 narrowing of the case, in which the General Counsel’s office withdrew the complaint’s allegations that Apple unlawfully suspended and discharged Ms. Gjøvik — and with them the remedies of reinstatement, make-whole relief, expungement, a letter of apology, manager and employee training, and nationwide electronic posting — a decision sustained in May 2026 solely on prosecutorial-discretion grounds, without any ruling on the merits. It also contends the remedy is insufficient in scope under Independent Stave Co., 287 NLRB 740 (1987): the violations were committed by telephone, email, and video against employees working remotely, and drew national and international press coverage, yet the settlement requires only a paper posting in a single building in Sunnyvale, California, and an email to a single team — notwithstanding Board remedial policy favoring electronic distribution where an employer communicates electronically, J. Picini Flooring, 356 NLRB 11 (2010), the notice-reading remedies approved in cases such as Federated Logistics & Transportation, 340 NLRB 255 (2003), enfd. 400 F.3d 920 (D.C. Cir. 2005), and the nationwide relief obtained from this same respondent in Case 32-CA-284428. Further, it contends Apple’s history of violations of the Act received insufficient weight in the settlement’s terms.

The settlement agreement, Notice to Employees, the December 18, 2024 consolidated complaint, the September 25, 2025 amended complaint, the May 8, 2026 appeal denial, and the Charging Party’s filed Joinder and Statement (with exhibits) are public records of NLRB Case 32-CA-282142 and are available at https://drive.proton.me/urls/MGGAE4Z93R#WfS41A6mTAQQ.

Case dockets are also available via the NLRB’s public website: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/32-CA-282142. A copy of emails with the NLRB Board agent & a e-filing confirmation are attached. A copy of the settlement agreement is also attached with a finalized version to be provided by NLRB in the next week.

Ashley M. Gjøvik, JD, is a former Apple senior engineering program manager who raised workplace environmental health and safety concerns in 2021 and filed charges with the NLRB, the U.S. Department of Labor, and other federal and state agencies, and is pursuing related civil litigation. She proceeds in propria persona. The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that enforces the National Labor Relations Act.

Ashley M. Gjøvik, BS, JD, PMP
Location: Alviso, San José, California
Phone: (415) 964-6272
Website: ashleygjovik.com
Business consulting: A.M. Gjovik Consulting, L.L.C.
Mailing address: 2108 N. St Ste. 4553, Sacramento, CA 95816