Apple Inc. is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleges he was wrongfully fired from his job as a technical specialist at the Glendale store in 2022 because he was diabetic and took time off for a persistent cough and other health issues related to his underlying disease.
In court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Cindy Panuco in advance of an Oct. 27 hearing, Apple attorneys state that plaintiff Connor Young was justly terminated because he repeatedly failed to comply with Apple’s attendance policy by not giving advance notice of his tardy arrivals and absences.
Young admits that he was often late or failed to report for his scheduled shift altogether without contacting a manager at least one hour before his start time, as the Apple policy requires, and at least twice the plaintiff did not even contact anyone to let them know that he was not going to show up to work, according to the Apple lawyers’ pleadings.
Rather than take responsibility for his alleged repeated failures to notify his managers and to submit medical documentation, Young now claims discrimination, retaliation and other causes of action even though the evidence shows Apple granted every medically-supported accommodation request Young made, the Apple lawyers further state in their court papers.
Apple “consistently supported him throughout his employment,” the Apple attorneys contend in their court papers.
But in his lawsuit filed in August 2023, Young says he was targeted and singled out by a supervisor for being diabetic and verbally harassed by the same boss because of the plaintiff’s medical condition and its related complications. Young further says he reasonably believed his job was in jeopardy.
In February 2022, the supervisor threatened Young and told the plaintiff that an investigation would be undertaken into the plaintiff’s previous absences and time taken off, according to the lawsuit, which further says that Young’s fears came true when the same boss called the plaintiff into his office the next month and terminated him.