Apple Class Action: Women Sue Over Alleged Gender Pay Gap

Two female employees at Apple are suing the tech giant, alleging it systematically pays women less than men to do the same jobs.

Plaintiffs Justina Jong and Amina Salgado — who have both worked at Apple more than 10 years — filed the class action lawsuit against Apple on June 13 in a California Superior court. 

They’re looking to represent more than 12,000 current and former female employees in Apple’s engineering, marketing and AppleCare divisions in California who they say have been underpaid for years. 

Lawsuit Claims Apple Systematically Underpays Women

The women allege that, prior to 2018, Apple used a system to determine starting salaries of asking employees for their compensation history. But they say this practice only “perpetuated historic pay disparities between men and women.”

After California outlawed that practice , Apple instead started asking potential employees for their salary expectations. This only entrenched the disparity, the plaintiffs allege.

Jong and Salgado also claim that, in performance reviews, men at Apple routinely get higher scores on teamwork and leadership. They say this results in lower bonuses and pay for women, further exacerbating pay disparities. 

Female Employees Uncover Wage Gap, Demand Justice

Jong says she only learned she was being paid about $10,000 less than a male colleague with a similar role after she spotted his W-2 form on the office printer. Jong says Apple offered her essentially the same base salary that she had received at her prior job when she started there.

“Jong has been paid less at Apple than men performing substantially similar work,” the lawsuit says.

Meanwhile, Salgado complained to Apple about the pay disparity a “number of times,” she says. Apple didn’t raise her salary until a third-party investigator found there was a pay gap between her and her male counterparts. Her salary was raised, but she wasn’t granted back pay, the lawsuit says.

Jong and Salgado are now seeking unspecified wages they say they are owed.

Apple has a history of facing lawsuits regarding gender-based wage disparities within the company. 

A class-action lawsuit was filed in California in 2019, alleging that female employees at Apple were paid less than male employees for equivalent roles and that Apple's pay practices violated California's Equal Pay Act. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, and Apple committed to addressing pay equity.

In 2022, former and current female employees filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging women were paid less than their male counterparts for similar roles, contributing to a systemic gender pay gap at the company. 

Case Details

• Lawsuit: Jong v. Apple Inc.
• Case Number: NA
• Court: California Superior Court, San Francisco County

Plaintiffs' Attorneys

• Joseph M. Sellers, Phoebe M. Wolfe (Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC)
• Adam T. Klein and Chauniqua Young (Outten & Golden LLP)
• Eve Cervantez, James M. Finberg (Altshuler Berzon LLP)