A new lawsuit accuses Apple of monitoring employees' personal devices and iCloud accounts, as well as preventing them from discussing their salaries and working conditions.
The lawsuit, filed in a California court by Amar Bhakta on Sunday, said the company requires employees to install software on their personal devices that they use for work, allowing Apple to access their email, photo libraries, health data, “smart home” data and other personal information.
At the same time, the lawsuit added, Apple imposes confidentiality policies that prohibit employees from discussing working conditions, including with the media, and also prohibits participation in whistleblowing protected by law.
Bhakta, who works in digital advertising at Apple, said he is barred from talking about his work on podcasts and has been directed to remove information about his working conditions from his LinkedIn profile.

For its part, Apple explained in a statement conveyed by a company spokesperson that the accusations in the case are baseless and that its employees are trained annually on their rights to discuss their working conditions.
The company added: "At Apple, we are focused on providing the best products and services in the world, and we work to protect the inventions our teams create for consumers."
Bhakta’s lawyers also represent two women who filed a lawsuit in June alleging that Apple systematically underpaid female employees in the company’s engineering, marketing and Apple Care departments. Apple says it is committed to inclusion and pay equity.
Apple is losing its battle in Europe
In September, Apple suffered a major defeat after the European Union's highest court ruled that it must recover about €13 billion ($14.4 billion) in back taxes in Ireland from the US tech giant.
The ruling relates to a case dating back to 2016 when EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said Ireland had granted the US company "illegal" tax benefits, amounting to a tax rate of less than 1%.
Later that month, Apple received a warning from the European Union telling it to open up its heavily protected iPhone and iPad operating systems to rival technologies, or risk heavy fines under the bloc's key digital antitrust rules.