![]() ![]() Another employee asked if Apple was prepared to respond if the situation for women in Texas got even worse. In listening sessions, managers sometimes frustrated employees by playing down their concerns. “The logistics of getting out of Texas if you have a maternal emergency are really hard.” She also wondered if any health care plan employees who did not support access to abortion could get them in trouble. Managers said leaves were handled by a third-party company and that an individual’s managers would know only that they were out sick or on medical leave.īut while that assuaged some privacy concerns, Rebecca says it remains unclear how much the travel policy would help in a true medical crisis. Now that Apple was pushing workers to return to the office, one manager said, individual teams had less power to grant remote work exemptions than before the pandemic.Įmployees also used listening sessions to question how exactly the medical travel policy would protect their privacy and help them access abortion care when they needed it. Attendees say this was presented as a companywide policy: Any employees who wished to relocate to another Apple campus would have to apply for a new job within the company, although managers did offer to help employees find new roles. Managers were clear on one point: Employees could not work remotely or switch their job to another Apple office simply because they disliked a particular state’s anti-abortion laws. (Rebecca asked that her real name be withheld because she fears losing her job.) But when managers in Texas held “listening sessions” about abortion concerns, they were at times worryingly evasive, she and other attendees told WIRED, and said company policy forbids workers-even those fearful of anti-abortion laws-from switching to remote work or transferring to an office in another state. All she got was a mass email reminding employees that their health plan covered out-of-state travel for medical care.įor weeks afterward, Rebecca heard nothing further from Apple management-until employees started calling for answers. She hoped the company would also publicly condemn the Supreme Court’s decision. Restrictions on abortion not only limit women’s reproductive choices but also can endanger the lives of anyone who needs emergency medical treatment while pregnant. Gutted by the news, the Austin-based corporate employee debated skipping work, but pressed ahead.Īs the day unfolded, Rebecca waited for Apple’s leaders to acknowledge the impact of the court’s decision on its workforce, particularly those like her living in states that were poised to outlaw abortion. The decision would trigger laws banning or restricting abortion in 13 states, including Texas, where she lived. Rebecca was getting ready to start her work day at Apple this June when she heard that the US Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. ![]()
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