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Apple Responds to Accusations of Executive Creating 'Toxic Workplace'

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The New York Times' Tripp Mickle today reported that "nine current and former employees" who worked with or for Apple's Vice President of Fitness Technologies Jay Blahnik have accused him of creating a "toxic work environment."

apple-fitness-jay-blahnik.jpg

The affected employees said Blahnik "could be verbally abusive, manipulative and inappropriate," according to the report.

"His behavior contributed to decisions by more than 10 workers to seek extended mental health or medical leaves of absence since 2022," the report said. One former employee on the team said she "never worked anywhere more toxic."

Apple spokesperson Lance Lin told The New York Times that the report contains "many inaccurate claims and mischaracterizations."

"We strongly disagree with the premise of this story, and there are many inaccurate claims and mischaracterizations," said Lin, without providing any specific examples. "We will continue to share the facts through the legal process."

Apple settled a complaint alleging sexual harassment by Blahnik, and it is defending him in another lawsuit over allegations of bullying, according to the report.

Blahnik continues to work at Apple after an internal investigation found "no evidence of wrongdoing," according to the report. The story cites a legal filing in which Apple denied any "harassment, discrimination, retaliation or any other harm." He joined Apple in 2013, after years of being a consultant at Nike. He played a key role in the creation of the Apple Watch's Activity rings and the Apple Fitness+ subscription service.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Responds to Accusations of Executive Creating 'Toxic Workplace'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/21/apple-responds-to-jay-blahnik-report/
Lizzard899 said:
If apple continues to back people like this guy who sounds like a creep then I bet people will walk away and drop apple altogether. They will go outta business very soon.
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I'll take that bet, and I'm pretty sure I'll win. Apple was set up by someone who treated staff in this way, and Apple customers never let Jobs' treatment of the staff be a factor in their purchasing choices. They didn't change their purchasing choices over the treatment of Foxconn workers either.

EDIT: This will play out either in court or as an "out of court settlement", but the effect on consumer sentiment will be negligible.
 
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I’ll say some things about this:

1. If it’s true, that’s awful and I hope he’s terminated.

2. When it’s one employee lodging a complaint it’s questionable, but nine employees would certainly be quite the coincidence.

3. Apple using an internal auditing team doesn’t help the employees as much as it helps Apple. An external auditing team would help investigate in a more unbiased manner.

4. Apple already settled a sexual harassment complaint involving him, and while I’m sure they admitted no wrongdoing, that still doesn’t look good.

5. The fact that Blahnik is a higher-up, and he helped create Apple Fitness+, tells me Apple may see him as a money maker for the company, and is willing to look the other way rather than let him go. It may not be true, but it sure looks that way. One has to wonder how much damage to their image he is worth.

6. This person is supposed to represent health and wellness yet he has all these accusations of troubling behavior that negatively affect… health and wellness. Surely they can find someone to better represent this area of the company?
 
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Chazak said:
Just wondering what you must know that's not in the article. Can you share?
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Have you ever worked for one of the top 5 corpos? This stuff happens. And in Apple’s case, well obviously, Apple will always defend their image first, the higher position person second and HR will always make the people who file complaint feel like they are the problem.
 
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Anonymous123 said:
I’ll say a few things about this:

1. If it’s true, that’s awful and I hope he is terminated.

2. When it’s one employee lodging a complaint it’s questionable, but nine employees would certainly be quite the coincidence.

3. Apple using an internal auditing team doesn’t help the employees as much as it helps Apple. An outside auditing team would help investigate in a more unbiased manner.
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Apple’s HR is so cringy. They call it the “People” department, as in…for the “People”. They hire the best most hardcore gaslighters they can to do this kind of work.
 
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Yeah these execs and management types need to realize that this isn't 30 years ago. People today don't respond well to this type of management style. You have to be nice and kind and give them encouragement and kiss their boo boos. These "old school" types need to learn to adapt to how the world works today.
 
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