The Apple logo is displayed on a Mac Pro desktop computer, Friday, May 21, 2021, in New York.

Mark Lennihan/AP

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Mark Lennihan/AP

The Apple logo is displayed on a Mac Pro desktop computer, Friday, May 21, 2021, in New York.

Mark Lennihan/AP

Apple has fired a lead organizer of the #AppleToo movement, as the company investigates multiple employees suspected of leaking internal documents to the media, according to two people with direct knowledge of the termination.

Janneke Parrish, a program manager who had been with the company for more than 5 years, was pushed out on Thursday. Apple claimed she had deleted files from her company devices.

#AppleToo has been spearheaded by Parrish and another Apple employee, Cher Scarlett. The effort gathered hundreds of anonymous accounts from Apple employees who highlighted alleged verbal abuse, sexual harassment, pay equity issues, and other forms of workplace mistreatment.

Apple did not return a request for comment. A lawyer for Parrish declined to comment. Scarlett, who is still at Apple but on medical leave, also would not comment.

Employees at Apple who support the #AppleToo push viewed Parrish’s firing as a reprisal for workplace organizing.

“Retaliating against Janneke is not going to stop Apple workers from standing up for themselves,” said one employee who requested anonymity for fear of being targeted by the company. “There are many workers who support #AppleToo who are trying to break the culture of secrecy at the company, and they aren’t going to stop.”

A small but growing chorus of Silicon Valley workers, from industry giants like Google to smaller companies like Glitch, Mapbox and Change.org, have been drawing attention to everything form the precarious arrangements of contract workers to workplace harassment and abuse.

At Apple, a company known for respectable pay and generous company perks, workers have long had deference for leadership and kept complaints within the confines of the Cupertino-based company. But fed up with the lack of progress inside the company, some Apple employees have begun speaking out publicly and organizing colleagues around common causes.

News of the firing comes months after it was revealed that the National Labor Relations Board is investigating two charges against Apple.

One was filed by former senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik, who claims her manager at Apple harassed her and that the company gave her fewer responsibilities at work. In September, Apple fired Gjøvik for allegedly publicly sharing confidential company records.

The other charge was filed by Scarlett. She claimed Apple shut down her efforts to conduct companywide surveys of pay equity to shed light on what she says is a gender pay gap as the company. She said Apple even blocked her attempt to start a discussion on the workplace communication tool Slack for chatting about gender pay discrepancies.

The tech news website The Verge first reported on Parrish’s firing.

Vincent P. White, a lawyer representing Parrish, told NPR he will be issuing a statement about her ouster later Friday afternoon.

Editor’s note: Apple is among NPR’s financial supporters.