Apple Store employee files racism complaint

Andrew Dupree, 31, of Orlando, Florida, says in the suit that he took his concerns about African-Americans being denied opportunities for advancement all the way to CEO Tim Cook, but that he was ignored and left with no choice but to take his case to court.A complaint filed December 18 with the Florida Commission on Human Relations obtained by Radar Online details management’s alleged preference for white employees.He also claimed that a manager once told him that ‘black employees don’t reach management in this market,’ in an interview with the website.When I was in the Orlando Store under the Supervision of [redacted], Senior Manager, she had make a statement prior to me transferring to Australia that Blacks in the Orlando location don’t have a chance to make it to management,’ the document reads.‘I did not express my concern to management at that time because I was transferring to Australia.’He the dramatically increased the results of the tech giant’s ‘Easy Pay Program,’ which encourages shoppers to make in-store purchases from their Apple devices, from 1.4 per cent of total sales to 14 per cent after arriving in Sydney, he said.Dupree believes those results merited a promotion.‘I did numbers myself and then I trained employees. I wrote a full synopsis to make it a sustainable goal for entire store,’ said Dupree.He then decided to return to the U.S. after a year down under and was rebuffed by the Orlando store.‘I was not given a job, despite being told that I was going to be given a transfer, because of one manager’s racism,’ insisted Dupree.‘I blew the horn as loud as humanly possible and they did nothing,’ he continued. ‘I want the focus to be on Tim Cook, Apple and their failure to address the racism in the company. Racism that they knew about.’The document further explained Dupree’s claims.‘Once [redacted] got involved with the transfer process I was denied a transfer to a management or leadership position. There are no Blacks at the Orlando Store that hold a leadership position or have opportunities to be promoted to management position.‘I believe that my upward ability at the Orlando Store is being hindered by [redacted] intention to discriminate against Blacks who are qualified to a hold a management position,’ says the lawsuit.Dupree further illustrated his claims of being discriminated against by recalling the time a white manager even musing about R&B singer Justin Timberlake.‘I’ve heard her referencing Justin Timberlake having more talent than other R&B artists and it pissed her off that black artists say he stole their style of music and that he’s so popular because he’s a white artist doing black music,’ he claimed.Dupree took his claims directly to the top, asking August 28, 2013, via email for a meeting with Cook, but was instead offered a talk with two human resources representatives the following month. That meeting instead happened in October 2013, but nothing came of it, said Dupree, leading to him filing his lawsuit.‘I filed my complaint because of what I have seen and heard in my market,’ he said. ‘You hear it so much that you get numb to it.‘Then I tried to move up the ladder and nothing happened. I watched people around me who did less work getting promoted and none of them were black. The last straw was when my manager destroyed my chances of moving up.’An Apple spokesperson told Radar Online that the company responded to his claims earlier this month but offered no further comment.(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az