∞ Apple sued by retail employee over perceived mental illness

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Apple is being sued by a former retail store employee for discrimination after the employee sought the services of a mental health professional during a leave of absence.

[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]According to the lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, the plaintiff, Nicole Sutton was working at Apple’s SoHo retail store in 2008. She received “superlative” reviews and was promoted to visual coordinator, which means she designed the “look” of the store.

Everything appeared to be going fine for Sutton until April 2009. It was at this point that Sutton took a leave of absence due to a nervous disorder and sought the services of a psychiatrist.

Sutton says that Apple promised her medical condition would not be disclosed to company employees, but upon her return, she said the Human Resources Manager clearly knew.

According to the lawsuit, Sutton’s job was not saved for her, even though Apple said it would be. Sutton applied for a “genius admin” position in the SoHo store, but didn’t get the job. When she asked why, she says Apple told her “there were questions about her mental stability.”

After not being assigned any work by the company, Sutton says she asked to be considered for a position in Chicago where she would move to be closer to her parents. She moved, but did not get that position either.

Sutton is asking for “appropriate” pay and punitive damages of $300,000.


  • Anonymous

    Of course we are only hearing her story, Apple has yet to comment. They probably won’t, unless it goes to trial. She was working at the Soho Store in New York City, yet the lawsuit was filed in Illinois, is that state her current residence?

    • I read the article

      That’s what the article says. HTH!

  • Danielsw

    It’s interesting to note that the fact of merely consulting a psychiatrist seems itself to be evidence of mental instability. Yeow, what a rep!

    • http://twitter.com/feralchimp feralchimp

      More interesting that the article chose to spin in that way in its opening paragraph. The employee took a leave of absence due to her nervous condition. That’s not “merely consulting a psychiatrist”, it’s “not showing up for work as a direct result of mental instability.”

      I also don’t understand the claim that “Apple promised her medical condition would not be disclosed to company employees, but upon her return, she said the Human Resources Manager clearly knew.”

      Who, other than an HR Manager, would someone be receiving this promise from in the first place? It’s not like she’s negotiating this deal with Apple’s corporate counsel. If the rest of her co-workers knew, that seems like it would run afoul of whatever agreement was reached, but the HR Manager deals with exactly this kind of information as a core function of the job.

      But if Apple agreed (or is obligated under the ADA) to hold her job, and didn’t, then they deserve to lose.

      • Anonymous

        Federal medical leave laws only require that you hold A job for someone. It doesn’t require that you hold a specific position if that job is cut or needs to be filled in the mean time.

        As long as they didn’t force her to move stores to somewhere way out of her way, cut her hours or her pay, they are fine.

  • http://www.tikkabik.com Peter Cohen

    Superficially it looks like this crosses all sorts of boundaries with the Americans with Disabilities Act. On the other hand, if she posed a risk…

    One way or the other, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in court.

    • Anonymous

      But she claims she isn’t ill and never was. Nor, by her claims, is she disabled.

      Also, reasonable accommodation is all that is legally required. Someone in a wheelchair or who requires a walker can’t expect a job that requires hauling around heavy items. A blind person can’t expect to have a job as a driver etc. But a braille keyboard for a phone operator job and bathrooms with proper rails, sure.

      The only thing they apparently did was take away her ‘special’ job doing visuals. Not her hours or her pay and benefits. She wasn’t happy being a generic sales person but how is that Apple’s fault.

  • Crisrod63

    I think there is way to many omissions on this story to even attempt to give an opinion.

    • Anonymous

      Heck even the article is wrong. THe suit has been published on other sites.

      Apple wasn’t the one that promised to keep their mouths shut. She wasn’t the one that designed the look of the store. Corporate does that. She was in charge of following their instructions in her own store.
      She was promised a job, but no law requires them to hold the exact position. And she likely was assigned work, as a floor specialist, but apparently thought herself too good for that with her big college degrees and such.
      Also, if she left due to a ‘nervous disorder’ her managers and co-workers probably didn’t need to be told anything. Changes are they saw it for themselves way before she left.

      Also it is worth noting that she is also suing because she quit her job in NYC and moved back home to Chicago where she applied for a job but didn’t get. She claims it is due to her ‘illness’ but perhaps she isn’t telling the whole story. My roommate, for example, worked for Gap and quit without giving two weeks notice. She was told that failure to give notice would mean that she would be rated as ‘not eligible for rehire’ at any Gap Inc store (Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic) for any position. Perhaps Apple has a rule like that also, especially for full times.