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The US labor guard dog froze two cases against Apple Days after Donald Trump appointed a lawyer who represents the technological group to be the highest legal official of the agency.
Last year, the National Council for Labor Relations filed multiple complaints against the iPhone manufacturer, alleging that he had intervened against the attempts of employees to organize, but suddenly withdrawn from two of the cases at the end of last week, according to the documents observed by the Financial Times.
Trump last week named Crystal Carey, partner of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, to be the general lawyer of the NLRB. It is listed in the agency’s files as a lawyer acting in Apple’s defense in both cases against the Silicon Valley technological group.
Apple and the NLRB refused to comment. Carey remains an employee of Morgan Lewis pending confirmation by the US Senate, and the law firm did not respond to requests for comments. The White House did not respond to a request for comments.
Morgan Lewis, specializing in the representation of labor dispute management, also acted for SpaceX and Amazon of Elon Musk in their challenges against the agency.
The appointment of Carey intervenes while Trump seeks to tighten his control of independent federal agencies, the concerns of Stoking that his administration eroded with railing and important democratic institutions.
Earlier this year, Trump dismissed Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the NLRB Democratic Board of Directors, and the lawyer general of the agency, Jennifer Abruzzo. Wilcox appealed this decision, saying it was illegal.
The NLRB oversees American work disputes, individuals laying petitions against companies in its regional offices. If the guard dog determines that measures must be taken, it brings accusations, which are then judged by judges of administrative law. NLRB regional offices can withdraw complaints before or after their contribution.
Janneke Parrish and Cher Scarlett were two of the main figures of the “Appletoo” movement of 2021, a reaction of employees against the iPhone manufacturer concerning his management of allegations of wage discrimination and harassment. The two women filed complaints to the NLRB after leaving the company, saying that they had been dismissed because of their work organization efforts.
The agency supported its allegations when it brought complaints against Apple in 2024, accusing the company of having violated the federal labor laws. He said that the iPhone manufacturer had interfered with discussions on wage actions and that Scarlett faced a constructive dismissal to plead for work changes.
Apple is strongly disagreed with complaints, saying that it “always respected the rights of our employees to discuss their salary, their hours and their working conditions and this is included in our business driving policy, on which all employees are trained each year”.
The group also made several modifications following the Appletoo movement, in particular the abolition of the gap clauses of employees linked to harassment at work in 2022.
Hearings before an administrative law judge had been scheduled for April and June in the affairs of Parrish and Scarlett, respectively. But the NLRB at the end of last week informed them that the trials should be postponed indefinitely pending legal examination by the agency’s head office.
Business, which has been brought by the Oakland NLRB office, in California, will be subject to the `Division of NLRB advice, which assesses and offers advice on cases that can approach complex or new legal theories.
A third former Apple employee with a complaint from the NLRB against the company, Ashley Gjøvik, said that his case had remained on the right track for an audience in August.
Parrish said that the previous representation of Carey d’Apple in her case made her “extremely doubtful” that she would receive fair treatment.
“I fear for the future of workers’ rights and for the ability of any worker to obtain his day in court under this administration,” she said.
Stefania Palma additional report in Washington
