APPLIES TOXIC APPEASE : STUDENTS' SPECIAL ESSAY

EXECUTIVE AT Apple accused of toxic culture by team but the company denies claims of bullying and harassment inside the fitness tech division.

Jay Blahnik was a fitness superstar with a book and nearly two decades of work with Nike before he was hired in 2013 to work on the Apple Watch.

But along the way, Mr. Blahnik created a toxic work environment, said nine current and former employees who worked with or for Mr. Blahnik and spoke about personnel issues on the condition of anonymity.

They said Mr. Blahnik, 57, who leads a roughly 100 person division as VP for the fitness technologies, could be verbally abusive, manipulative and inappropriate.

His behavior had contributed to decisions by more than 10 workers to seek extended leaves of absence since 2022, these people said.

WHEN confronted with Mr. Blahnik's behavior, Apple moved to protect him after an internal investigation. The company settled one complaint alleging sexual harassment by Mr. Blahnik and is fighting a lawsuit by an employee, Mandana Mofidi, who said he had bullied her.

Mr. Blahnik stayed in his job after company officials said their investigation had found no evidence of wrongdoing, according to interviews and Ms. Mofid's lawsuit, which she filed against Mr. Blahnik and Apple last year in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The tension inside Mr. Blahnik's division speaks to workplace dysfunction at the heart of one of Apple's signature health initiatives.

These employees said the company was more willing to protect a star executive than address the concerns of rank-and-file workers.

'' AT the end of the day, we don't matter, '' said Kayla Desautels, who was the team's social media coordinator before departing last year after a mental health leave.

She said she had '' never worked anywhere more toxic.''

Lance Lin, an Apple spokesman, said the company took '' all concerns seriously '' and was '' deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace."

He said that Apple thoroughly investigated workplace issues, but that it did not discuss matters involving individual employees, in the interest of respecting their privacy.

'' We strongly disagree with the premise of this story, and there are many inaccurate claims and mischaracterizations,'' said Mr. Lin, who declined to provide any specific examples of the inaccuracies when asked to discuss reporting from The New York Times.

He added, '' we will continue to share the facts through the legal process.''

The Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks Tripp Mickle.