Ex-Apple Robina store employee Ashley Llambias claims she was bullied by a co-worker

An Apple store employee allegedly had a co-worker try to jump over a manager “to get to her” and was berated in front customers at the Gold Coast store, it has been claimed in court documents. Find out what happened.

An Apple store employee allegedly had a co-worker try to jump over a manager “to get to her” and was berated in front customers at the Gold Coast store, it has been claimed in court documents.

Ashley Llambias has launched a more than half a million dollar compensation claim against technology giant Apple in the Southport District Court alleging she was subjected to bullying while employed at the Robina Apple Store in 2019.

The 28-year-old this week lodged the $537,503.48 court case, claiming her capacity to work was “substantially altered” after she was diagnosed with adjustment disorder with mood and anxiety symptoms.

Apple Store at Robina Town Centre.

The court documents claim the diagnosis came after Ms Llambias was subjected to bullying.

Ms Llambias claims in court documents the first incident was on May 17, 2019 when she was working with George Cary checking customers in for their appointments.

The court documents claim Mr Cary left the line for and while he was away Ms Llambias had realised a customer’s appointment had been accidentally cancelled so she returned them to the queue in the same spot.

Mr Cary, who is not a defendant in the civil claim, allegedly spoke to Ms Llambias and told her she was wrong.

The court documents state manager Chris Mills saw what was happening, spoke to Ms Llambias, said she behaved appropriately and promised to speak to Mr Cary.

Mr Cary then came back to speak to Ms Llambias.

Ms Llambias claims Mr Cary verbally “attacked” her in an “aggressive and demoralising tone” in front of five customers.

He allegedly told her: “What gives you the right to make decision like this? Who said you were allowed to do this? What makes you so special?”

The court documents state Ms Llambias was so upset she ran off crying and was told by managers she did nothing wrong. She was allegedly sent home early.

The line at the Apple Store Robina during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

A little more than a month later Ms Llambias was working on a device trying to recover photos for a customer when she was told to go on a break, the court documents said.

It was claimed that she left the phone on a desk and when she returned Mr Cary was allegedly working on the phone.

She asked to take over because she was emotionally invested in the task.

Ms Llambias claims in the court documents that Mr Cary spoke to her in a harsh and aggressive tone and called her “immature”, “irresponsible” and berated her.

The court documents allege Mr Cary began to yell and mangers were called.

Ms Llambias claims that when a manager arrived, Mr Cary allegedly continued to yell.

“Mr Cary became more angry and appeared to be trying to jump over (a manager) to get to (Ms Llambias),” the court documents state.

“He picked up the repair he was working on and yelled ‘Fine! I will finish this repair somewhere else, find someone else to replace me, I’m not coming back’.”

The court documents state Mr Cary picked up the item he was repairing and slammed it down. Ms Llambias was then allegedly sent home.

The court documents alleged that Ms Llambias was left with an adjustment disorder which was caused by:

* failure to train managers;

* failure to take any or any appropriate steps to reprimand Mr Cary in light of his behaviours;

* Failure to respond to workplace bullying;

* Failure to remove Mr Cary from the workplace after the incident.

Ms Llambias also claims in court documents she is not able to return to her chosen career to work in with the Apple Corporation due to the incidents.

Apple is yet to file a response in court.

An Apple spokesman said: “We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace.

“We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters.”

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