Cher Scarlett
Cher Scarlett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Walla Walla, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Software engineer, workers' rights advocate, author |
| Known for | Establishing AppleToo; labor activism at Apple, Activision Blizzard, Starbucks |
Cher Scarlett (born ) is an American software engineer, advocate for workers' rights, and author, recognized for establishing AppleToo. She has been instrumental in organizing staff at companies such as Apple, Activision Blizzard, and Starbucks.
Living with bipolar disorder, Scarlett encountered significant obstacles early in life, including leaving high school prematurely and surviving a suicide attempt. Beginning in the late 1990s, she independently learned web development and later pursued a career in software engineering after becoming a parent. Her firsthand experiences within a male-dominated occupation inspired her to champion labor rights and critique corporate cultures.
As a prominent figure in the AppleToo initiative, Scarlett gathered testimonies from Apple employees regarding workplace mistreatment and co-established Apple Together, a solidarity union with which she continues to be involved as an advisor. She lodged formal complaints against Apple with both the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Following extensive activism, she departed from Apple under a settlement that has since been invalidated, citing harassment and retaliatory actions. In October 2024, the NLRB accused Apple of unlawfully forcing Scarlett out through constructive dismissal. Subsequently, in 2025, Mozilla Corporation resolved NLRB allegations concerning their refusal to hire her due to her labor activism at Apple.
Scarlett played a key role in advocating for labor legislation in Washington and pushed for shareholder proposals at Apple addressing civil rights issues and the use of confidentiality clauses. Notably, one proposal was approved by shareholders—the first such endorsement in over ten years—leading to significant revisions in Apple's employment agreements related to concealment provisions.
Early life and education
Born in Walla Walla, Washington, Scarlett was raised by her mother, a construction worker, in Kirkland, Washington. Her family history includes roots among the Volga Germans, who worked as farm laborers in Eastern Washington, contributing to her upbringing amid generational poverty. During the early 2000s, she attended Juanita High School, achieving an almost perfect SAT score. Fascinated by science and video games, she aspired to become a scientist and engaged in biotechnology studies as part of a junior astronaut program. Scarlett began teaching herself programming while still in middle school, developing websites for her EverQuest gaming guild and experimenting with web design on LiveJournal.
Scarlett endured profound personal hardships such as childhood sexual abuse and substance addiction throughout high school, which ultimately led to her dropping out. In 2005, she was subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and subsequently attempted suicide. Years later, in 2018, she assisted federal investigators in apprehending one of the offenders. Prior to launching her technology career, Scarlett held jobs including stripping and working overnight shifts at places like Krispy Kreme, all while raising her daughter. The experience of pregnancy prompted her to pursue a transformative path toward establishing herself in tech.
2007–2015
Scarlett’s early professional experience includes a brief stint in 2007 as a web developer for a real estate company followed by freelance work until 2011. That year marked her entry into USA Today as a web developer, where supervisors commended her as a "talented developer."
Activision Blizzard (2015–2016)
Scarlett began her tenure at Activision Blizzard in 2015 as a software engineer, where she contributed to the development of the Battle.net platform. She actively confronted the organization on issues related to gender pay gaps and sexism. Together with her supervisor, she played a key role in creating Activision Blizzard's inaugural interactive esports brackets and an esports data API. Her manager praised her as "extremely motivated" and deeply committed.
Although Scarlett departed from Blizzard in 2016, she later testified in 2021 before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing amid a lawsuit accusing the company of widespread discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. She urged others to come forward with their experiences, directed them to the appropriate agency, and supported a subsequent employee walkout. Scarlett accused former World of Warcraft developer Alex Afrasiabi of groping her at a workplace event; Afrasiabi was dismissed in 2020. She publicly brought attention to the mistreatment of female staff, including issues of underpayment, harassment, and abuse.
Scarlett reported frequent instances of unjust disciplinary actions and sexual harassment, characterizing such conduct as normalized and shielded within the corporate environment. She identified the unnamed Chief Technology Officer cited in the lawsuit as Ben Kilgore, who faced numerous allegations of misconduct and was terminated in 2018.
She also criticized Blizzard’s response to a 2018 controversy involving an Overwatch League moderator accused of distributing revenge porn; the moderator was removed without prior notice, leading to community outrage. Scarlett recounted her extensive history with this moderator in a detailed Medium article. Subsequently, Blizzard disbanded its community moderation teams.
Scarlett emphasized the difficulty of addressing problems at what many consider a "dream employer," noting that employees often ignore issues because of their desire to work there. The company recognized her courage in speaking out and affirmed its commitment to enhancing workplace fairness and safety.
2016–2020
In 2016, Scarlett joined World Wide Technology before being recruited by Starbucks in 2017 as a lead software engineer working remotely from Greater St. Louis, Missouri. During her time at Starbucks, she contributed to initiatives aimed at tackling gender-based wage inequalities. After moving on to Webflow in 2019, she exposed alleged pay disparities at Starbucks that disproportionately affected Black employees and other underrepresented groups. Scarlett maintained her advocacy for equity within the tech industry and became a maintainer for 1x.engineer, a platform promoting healthy work–life balance among professionals.
Apple (2020–2021)
Scarlett began working at Apple in April 2020 as a principal software engineer on the software security team, initially based remotely in St. Louis before relocating near Seattle. Within a year, she became a vocal advocate for workplace reforms at Apple, challenging its culture of secrecy while promoting initiatives for pay equity, anti-discrimination policies, and flexible remote work arrangements. Her activism notably defied Apple's informal norms against public criticism, motivating others but also attracting internal opposition.
Under increasing pressure, Scarlett took medical leave in September 2021 due to harassment from coworkers that negatively affected her mental well-being. During this time, Apple reportedly encouraged her to refrain from publicly discussing company matters. She recounted multiple episodes of harassment including hostile emails, false accusations of leaking confidential information, anonymous abusive messages, offensive survey feedback, and doxing incidents on Blind. Although Apple provided some security support, Scarlett criticized the company for failing to denounce the abuse.
After a brief return to work, Scarlett resigned on November 19, 2021, citing experiences of isolation, intimidation, and retaliation following her submission of complaints to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Antonio García Martínez
In May 2021, Scarlett openly expressed her disappointment regarding Apple's decision to hire Antonio García Martínez, raising concerns about leadership choices and their compatibility with Apple's commitment to diversity and inclusion. Previously, García Martínez had characterized women in the Bay Area as "soft and weak," which prompted a group of employees, with Scarlett’s involvement, to compose a letter opposing his recruitment and specifying their demands. After the letter became public, Scarlett's critical tweet about the hire was highlighted by Bloomberg, resulting in her receiving backlash due to misunderstandings that she authored the letter.
Scarlett noted that Apple’s public relations appeared more intent on managing external perceptions than genuinely addressing internal employee issues. In an interview with CNN, she expressed trust in Apple's culture but described the hiring as "starkly contradictory" to those principles. Following the controversy, García Martínez was quickly terminated, with Apple affirming that "behavior that demeans or discriminates against people for who they are has no place [at Apple]."
Remote work advocacy
During mid-2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic persisted, Apple announced plans mandating most staff to return to office premises several days weekly. Scarlett championed efforts advocating for continued remote work options, emphasizing its critical role for disabled employees, caregivers, and those facing financial challenges. She encouraged coworkers to request accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act to retain remote working arrangements. Additionally, Scarlett raised alarms about a medical release form Apple required, which allowed access to sensitive health information ordinarily protected by HIPAA, causing unease among many employees.
Apple maintained that "in-person collaboration is essential" to fostering its culture and innovation goals. Scarlett contested this stance by highlighting Apple’s already distributed workforce and disputing the claim that spontaneous onsite interactions are the primary drivers of innovation.
Due to surging COVID-19 cases, Apple postponed its office return plans multiple times before settling on a new date of April 11, 2022.
#AppleToo movement and worker organizing
Scarlett emerged as a prominent figure within the #AppleToo movement. In August 2021, she initiated a wage transparency survey at Apple after previous employee efforts had been suppressed, collecting over 3,000 responses. Employees—including Scarlett and program manager Janneke Parrish—shared anonymous accounts of mistreatment such as verbal and sexual harassment, retaliation, discrimination, poor working conditions, and pay inequities. The collective received more than 600 personal stories from staff members. After Parrish was dismissed, the group formalized into Apple Together, a solidarity union co-founded by Scarlett and Parrish, who remained involved as advisors through May 2022. Organizers underscored challenges related to unfair compensation and financial hardships faced by workers. Scarlett questioned, "If the richest company in the world won't pay its workers enough to live, who will?"
Apple expressed confidence in its "framework for the implementation and oversight of [Apple's] human rights commitments," asserting its ongoing dedication to fostering an inclusive workplace environment.
The allegations brought forward by Scarlett through the NLRB and wider employee activism on diversity prompted SOC Investment Group (SOC), Trillium Asset Management (TAM), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to submit a shareholder proposal requesting a "civil-rights audit." This proposal highlighted existing diversity gaps and challenged how Apple addresses racial disparities internally. Scarlett criticized disparities favoring white men in technical roles regarding advancement opportunities and advocated for an independent salary audit with transparency for employees. Despite Apple's recommendation against it, shareholders approved the proposal on March 4, 2022—the first such endorsement in ten years.
Apple maintains it conducts annual compensation reviews to ensure pay equity and asserts that current policies fulfill civil-rights audit criteria while noting that nearly half of its U.S. workforce consists of underrepresented groups. Although the proposal is non-binding, Apple committed to carrying out the audit.
Following additional NLRB complaints filed by Scarlett, Parrish, and other employees during 2021–2022, SOC, TAM, and SEIU introduced another shareholder proposal in September 2022 calling for a "workers' rights assessment."
Federal labor board allegations
On September 1, 2021, Scarlett submitted a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Apple of infringing labor laws by obstructing employees from discussing compensation and gathering information on racial and gender-related wage disparities.
By November 2021, Scarlett and Apple had reached a settlement outside the board, which involved a severance payout equivalent to one year's salary to be divided with her legal representatives, and the withdrawal of the complaint contingent upon Apple publicly acknowledging employees' rights to openly discuss workplace matters and remuneration. Scarlett identified this acknowledgment as one of four conditions she had put forth to Apple. Nevertheless, by December, Scarlett reported that Apple had failed to enact the NLRB's requested modifications, prompting the agency to reject the withdrawal. Apple only displayed the mandated notice during Thanksgiving week when most staff were absent, a move Scarlett criticized as noncompliance with the agreement.
In January 2023, the NLRB validated three of Scarlett’s allegations and in October 2024 officially charged Apple with unlawfully monitoring employees, suppressing labor organizing efforts on social media platforms, and impeding discussions regarding wages. The NLRB prosecutor further accused Apple of constructive dismissal by compelling Scarlett to resign without just cause. The complaint outlined that Apple directed Scarlett to cease posting about the company on social media and pressured her into taking medical leave. Employees who participated in wage surveys were subjected to questioning and faced threats of demotion from management. Furthermore, the NLRB charged Apple with wrongful termination of Parrish and enforcing illegal policies such as mandating employees sign contracts containing unlawful non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), which Scarlett reportedly signed upon her exit.
Whistleblowing
Ifeoma Ozoma, a specialist in public policy, together with shareholder advocacy group Open MIC and impact investors Whistle Capital and Nia Impact Capital, submitted a shareholder proposal at Apple addressing the use of concealment clauses. On October 25, 2021, Cher Scarlett filed a whistleblower complaint with the SEC contesting Apple's assertion in a no-action letter that it does not utilize non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) related to harassment, discrimination, or unlawful behavior. Scarlett provided both the SEC and Nia with an NDA from her separation agreement—which she refused to sign—claiming Apple pressured her to present her departure as voluntary rather than due to a hostile work environment. The SEC denied Apple's no-action request.
During settlement negotiations, Scarlett sought inclusion of language permitting employees to discuss unlawful workplace conduct, anticipating new California legislation effective January 2022. Initially rejected, Apple later pledged in an SEC proxy statement to incorporate this language into all separation agreements across the U.S. Shareholders approved this proposal on March 4, 2022. In December 2022, following an audit that revealed minimal violations restricting employee speech about unlawful acts, Apple agreed to eliminate all concealment clauses from employment contracts and committed not to enforce previous restrictions.
Scarlett was one of five recipients of payments from a $213,000 severance fund; however, Apple withheld attorney fees and future severance payments citing alleged NDA breaches and reserved rights for damages claims—claims Scarlett denied having assets to satisfy. In an essay for The Olympian, Scarlett and others emphasized the financial hazards involved in speaking out under NDAs and advocated for Washington state legislation banning such agreements. Additionally, Scarlett initiated a GoFundMe campaign to assist with legal expenses.
After leaving Apple in November 2021, Scarlett accepted employment at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. However, during background verification, Apple inaccurately reported her job title as "associate" through Equifax's verification system, causing delays and ultimately rescinding her offer. Legal experts have suggested this practice may violate applicable laws. Scarlett filed a retaliation complaint with the SEC; investigations are ongoing following support from eight state officials calling for scrutiny of Apple's NDA practices.
2021–present
Scarlett participates on the Tech Worker Committee for The Solidarity Fund, an emergency support initiative assisting Apple and Netflix employees engaged in organizing efforts. Established by Liz Fong-Jones and Coworker.org, this fund aims to build unity among at-risk workers. In December 2021, Apple Together advocated for the fund to back a retail strike in Jacksonville, Florida, resulting in a significant rise in donations from Apple staff.
At the start of 2022, Scarlett collaborated with Starbucks baristas during the 2021–2022 union drive, working alongside Workers United (WU), which is connected to the Service Employees International Union. When an Apple store employee at Grand Central Terminal lost their union affiliation, Scarlett facilitated contact with WU representatives. On February 22, 2022, Fruit Stand Workers United voted to join WU and publicly launched their union campaign in April.
In March 2022, Scarlett accepted a role as principal software engineer at game developer ControlZee to work on dot big bang, a platform designed for users to create multiplayer games.
That same month, Scarlett was among five specialist investigators contributing to a Financial Times report examining Russian technology company Yandex. The investigation uncovered that Yandex collected sensitive user information—including device identifiers and IP addresses—within Russia, data that could potentially be accessed by the Kremlin. This gathering of information was conducted via AppMetrica, an SDK integrated into over 52,000 applications such as VPNs and secure messaging tools used throughout the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Scarlett pointed out that users attempting to enhance their security might unintentionally expose themselves to greater risks. Following publication, firms like Opera disabled the SDK, Google launched an inquiry, and Apple denied any unauthorized data harvesting through SDKs.
Labor charges against Mozilla
In April 2022, Scarlett claimed she was denied employment opportunities at both Mozilla and Epic Games due to her labor activism at Apple and subsequently filed complaints with the NLRB against these companies. On November 22, 2023, the NLRB formally accused Mozilla of "failure to hire" Scarlett, referencing tweets made during her interview and demanding either her employment or financial compensation. The general counsel asserted that Mozilla’s refusal was intended to deter legally protected employee organizing activities. On January 14, 2025, Mozilla reached a settlement agreeing to pay $300,000 in back wages and benefits and to display a notice affirming workers’ rights under the NLRA along with a promise not to retaliate.
Facial recognition software criticism
Scarlett has been an advocate for regulating facial recognition technologies (FRS). In January 2022, she brought attention to an error by Facebook’s FRS that mistakenly identified her as a distant ancestor. This incident prompted responses from Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth and AI lead Jerome Pesenti confirming that the system had been deactivated.
Subsequently, Scarlett investigated PimEyes, a facial recognition website that searches for matching images across the internet. While it located pictures of herself and similar-looking individuals such as Britney Spears, no relatives appeared in the results. Some photos connected to a 2005 case involving coerced sexual acts remained online despite her requests for removal. In January 2023, Scarlett filed formal complaints with the Washington State Attorney General. Although PimEyes took down over 400 images following these actions, some content remained accessible.
An investigation by Vice News Tonight revealed PimEyes is primarily used for stalking purposes and highlighted significant privacy dangers. Scarlett’s experience emphasized critical concerns about individual privacy and control over facial data, describing this technology as reminiscent of "Star Trek" science fiction.
Select publications
Whistleblower protection
In 2021, Scarlett led efforts in Washington state to curtail employer-imposed confidentiality clauses, promoting legislation modeled after California's Silenced No More Act, which safeguards whistleblowers from nondisclosure agreements. Collaborating with Ifeoma Ozoma, a prominent advocate in California's movement, Scarlett worked alongside Senator Karen Keiser and Representative Liz Berry during the 2022 session of the Washington State Legislature. Together with former Google employee Chelsey Glasson, she provided testimony supporting House Bill 1795, which was enacted on March 3, 2022, and applied retroactively from June 9, 2022. This statute established Washington as a frontrunner in protecting whistleblowers and promoting corporate responsibility.
After the law's passage, leading technology firms reacted: Google broadened Silenced No More protections to encompass all staff members, while Apple incorporated comparable provisions into employment agreements following initial resistance during Scarlett's own separation negotiations. These changes highlight the expanding impact of advocates for tech industry accountability on labor regulations.
Wage transparency
In 2022, Scarlett championed Senate Bill 5761, mandating that employers with at least 15 employees disclose salary details in job advertisements, including those for internal transfers. Drawing from her personal experience with pay opacity during her transition at Apple, she testified that secrecy around compensation suppresses wages and disproportionately harms underrepresented populations lacking bargaining power. The legislation was approved on March 1, 2022, and became effective January 1, 2023.
Health data privacy
In 2023, Scarlett endorsed the My Health, My Data Act (House Bill 1155), introduced by Vandana Slatter at the request of Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. This groundbreaking legislation prohibits the collection or sharing of digital health information without explicit consent and forbids consumer tracking related to healthcare services. Scarlett observed that the bill was diluted by an amendment permitting limited location tracking without user approval. The law was signed in April 2023 and is set to take effect on March 31, 2024.
Personal life
Scarlett has been diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder and ADHD. She maintains an active presence on Twitter, where she advocates for marginalized communities.