A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a man who alleged he was terminated by Apple Inc. in 2023 at age 79 because he requested accommodations for various health issues and took time off to deal with his conditions.
Robert Bailey’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleged disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process. Bailey, who sought at least $500,000 in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages, said he was told he was fired because he helped a customer recover the person’s Apple ID password, even though other employees performed the same task for their patrons in an identical manner.
Bailey was hired in March 2014 and worked most of the time from his Pasadena home in a customer support role. In November 2021, he was assigned to work at Apple’s Pasadena store for two months to assist the staff during the holiday season, the suit stated.
Bailey required and was granted accommodations for health conditions related to prostate cancer and degenerative disk disease, which required more frequent breaks and occasional medical leave visits, the suit states. He also took an approved medical leave for carpal tunnel syndrome surgery and recovery in both hands from July to October 2023, the suit further states.
When Bailey returned to work, he was told he was under investigation for help he gave a customer to recover that patron’s Apple ID password, according to the suit filed in October 2023, which further stated he was denied a request to see the Apple policy he allegedly violated.
“At no point did Bailey compromise the customer’s private information,” the suit stated.
Bailey was never trained on any Apple policies prohibiting performing such a task on a customer’s behalf and he saw many Apple employees do the exact same thing while he was working in the Pasadena store, the suit stated. Bailey was fired last November and told he had violated both Apple’s business conduct policy and its Apple Care policies and procedures, the suit stated.
But in her ruling, Judge Alison Mackenzie said it is undisputed that during a customer call on June 28, 2023, Bailey initiated an account recovery request on the customer’s behalf. Although the plaintiff contended he did not violate Apple policy, he does not contest that he typed in the patron’s information into the account recovery system, the judge wrote.
Apple thus met its initial burden of showing that it fired Bailey for a legitimate business reason, according to Mackenzie. She further wrote that there was no evidence that Apple was using the alleged policy violation as an excuse to fire the plaintiff.
Bailey believed he lost his job due to his health condition, his requests for accommodations and for taking medical leave, according to the complaint. In December 2023, he asked for a reconsideration of his termination and inquired once again to see the Apple policy he was accused of breaching, but an employee relations representative only told him that the regulation was “well-known at Apple,” according to the suit.
Mackenzie said that even if Bailey’s thinking was reasonable, he did not provide evidence that Apple was looking for an excuse to fire him.