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Apple wins appeal case over alleged bias against former staff member with autistic son

By Nagasunder in US business news, posted September 2, 2022

A case accusing Apple of bias against an employee with an autistic son has been thrown out after an appeal

Raja Kannan claimed he was denied promotions and stock-based employee compensation because his son has autism.

However, the case was thrown out after the Ninth Circuit appeal court ruled a lower court was correct to dismiss a disability bias lawsuit.

The three-judge panel upheld the decision made in October over Kannan's Americans with Disabilities Act and California Fair Employment and Housing Act suit.

Apple was able to prove Kannan was not qualified for a promotion and that he was given lower priority for Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) due to his performance.

The judges wrote: "Apple has presented undisputed legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for not promoting Kannan and not awarding him discretionary RSUs."

"He was given lower priority for RSUs because he had less responsibility, had less management experience, and received less favorable performance reviews than his relevant colleagues. Kannan has not established that these reasons were pretextual."

The Ninth Circuit also said that Kannan's direct manager, who knew about his autistic son, was not in charge of the employment verdicts at issue.

In addition, the manager who had the final say over promotions and terminations did not know Kannan had an autistic son and did not distinguish Kannan as autistic at any point during his service at Apple.

The judges said: "He thus could not have denied Kannan a promotion and discretionary RSUs because of a perceived or associational disability.

The judges ruled Apple provided undisputed evidence that the hiring manager never had reservations about Kannan's requests for a flexible work schedule because of his son and, in fact, "repeatedly advocated" for Kannan's career advancement.

Kannan worked at Apple's Cupertino, California, office from August 2011 until April 2017.

He started working at Apple's product support group in November 2013, and he claimed in his complaint that he never received a promotion or discretionary RSUs while there.

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In December 2017, he filed a complaint alleging that Apple discriminated against him based on his perceived disability and his relationship with a person with a disability, retaliated against him, and wrongfully discharged him.

Source: Law360

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