Apple Park contractor to pay out $1.25 million over racial harassment of employees
What you need to know
- An Apple Park contractor will pay $1.25 million to eight Black former employees.
- Its over claims the company failed to act after employees were racially harassed.
- A report says that swastikas and racial epithets were drawn on Apple Park construction toilets, and a noose was found at a worksite.
An Apple Park contractor will pay $1.25 million to eight Black former employees over claims it failed to act against racial harassment of its employees whilst the project was built.
As reported by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August:
Air Systems Inc. was a subcontractor on Apple's Apple Park project, its space-age headquarters in Cupertino. According to the report, racial harassment of employees reportedly included "racist graffiti of swastikas and racial epithets drawn on the walls of the Apple Park construction project's portable toilets, as well as a noose at the worksite, hung next to a scrawled note containing expletives and a threat of lynching." There was no indication as to who might have been responsible.
The EEOC also says that the company failed to respond when two Black employees stated "that a white coworker had taunted them with racial pejoratives."
Air Systems was charged with violating the Civil Rights Act and will pay $1.25 million in damages to the employees. The company is also reviewing its policies and will train employees on the prevention and reporting of racial harassment.
The EEOC's district director for San Francisco said
Company president Art Williams said Air Systems had "a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment" and that upon learning of the allegations "initiated a comprehensive investigation and took swift corrective actions."
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Apple Park was completed in 2018 and was designed in partnership with long-time Apple architect Foster + Partners.
Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9