Apple sacks the wrong genius, says tribunal

Apple has been criticised by an employment tribunal for unfairly dismissing Timothy Jeffries, a former "Genius" repair worker, after he made a Covid-related joke to a Chinese colleague.

Timothy Jeffries was terminated in February last year following a comment he made to a departing teammate: "See you in nine months ... as long as you lot don't release another deadly disease on the world." The colleague, Ran Liu, who is Chinese, interpreted the joke as referencing the origins of Covid-19 in Wuhan. However, the tribunal has now ruled that Apple's decision to dismiss Mr. Jeffries was unjust.

During the proceedings, Mr. Jeffries successfully argued that what Apple labeled as racial "banter" was commonplace at the London shop where he worked. He contended that Apple's claim of a zero tolerance policy was not consistently enforced. Judge Graham Hodgson criticised Apple for significant deficiencies in its investigation into the incident and for failing to properly uphold its anti-bullying and harassment policies.

Notably, Ms. Liu, the colleague involved, did not lodge a complaint about the incident, and Judge Hodgson pointed out that she and Mr. Jeffries were friends. Despite this, Mr. Jeffries was reported by his manager and faced disciplinary action. He had been a part of Apple's White City store in west London for 13 years, serving as one of its esteemed "Genius" repair staff.

Mr. Jeffries maintained that "racial stereotypes were often joked about within the Genius Bar team" and believed that his colleague would understand the intended humour of his remark.