![]() On its website, Apple says the company is making consistent progress toward increasing diversity among its ranks. A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment, citing pending litigation. NBC News reached out to a manager at the Washington Square mall store, but did not immediately hear back. Holt from" such conduct, the lawsuit states. "Apple refused to adequately address widespread racial harassment and discrimination among its employees and customers, and it failed to protect Mr. His employment was terminated in March 2019. He was then placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Another coworker asked management to remove the customer, but instead Holt said management sent him home. Holt said he politely asked the customer, "Isn't that what I just said?" and the customer put his hand up to Holt's face as if to gesture "stop," which prompted a coworker to intervene, according to the lawsuit. Holt also claims he was called "boy" by some customers and that when he reported that to coworkers and management, he was often told to "assume positive intent" or that he was overreacting, the lawsuit claims. Only after the same customer called another employee an "Asian b-" did Apple take action, the lawsuit states. Holt immediately reported the incident to management, but supervisors questioned the veracity of his account and sent him to the back of the store rather than address the customer. On one occasion in January 2018, Holt said a white male customer shoved him in the back. White customers at the store would also avoid him, instead approaching white employees for assistance, the lawsuit says. White customers frequently asked him if he worked at the location even when he had welcomed them into the store, a question they did not pose to nonblack employees. In 2015, Holt was assigned to the Washington Square mall Apple store and almost immediately noticed hostile treatment based on his race from customers and management, the lawsuit states. Holt moved to Atlanta to open an Apple store in 2014 and said he noticed a difference there in the work culture for blacks, including that more people of color were in management positions. Holt says in the lawsuit that he applied for a management role but was told he was "not ready" for the position and received no feedback as to how he could improve. He was regularly a top performer and was encouraged to apply for management positions, the lawsuit claims. ![]() In 2013, after he was promoted to an expert, he was transferred to a downtown Portland store. Holt, 32, who lives in the Portland area, was hired by Apple in 2011 as a part-time specialist at a store in Bridgeport, Oregon, where he was promoted twice, according to the lawsuit.
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