Apple Lawsuit Highlights Tensions as EU Pay Transparency Rules Take Effect

On 10 and 11 July 2026, Apple filed a federal lawsuit in California against OpenAI and two former executives, accusing them of systematically stealing confidential documents. According to the complaint, one ex-engineer exploited a security loophole to download sensitive files from Apple’s network storage, while a former vice president allegedly questioned job applicants about internal secrets and used proprietary code names. Roughly 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. Apple demands that the stolen materials be destroyed and their use stopped. OpenAI has denied the allegations.

The case underscores a growing friction in the corporate world: the push for pay transparency versus the protection of trade secrets. This tension is playing out in Europe as well, where the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive took effect in June 2026 — even though Austria has yet to fully transpose the rules into national law.

Austrian workers now enjoy expanded information rights, according to the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) and the Equal Treatment Ombudsperson. Employees can demand from their employer their individual salary along with average pay figures for comparable positions, broken down by gender. Companies must supply this data within two months.

Starting even before the first job interview, employers must disclose the starting salary or salary range. Asking candidates about their previous pay is now forbidden. Violations carry fines of up to €60,000 under the Austrian draft law, and affected workers can claim back pay for up to three years.

Reporting obligations are staggered by company size. Firms with more than 250 employees must publish a gender pay gap report annually. Those with 100 to 250 staff do so every three years. If the pay analysis reveals a gender gap exceeding five percent that cannot be objectively justified, a formal pay assessment becomes mandatory.

The Federation of Austrian Industries (IV) has criticised the rules as bureaucratic overreach. The IV points out that Austria already covers 98 percent of employees through collective bargaining agreements and that transparent pay systems are long established. The organisation warns against national “gold plating” of EU directives and notes that Austria’s adjusted gender pay gap is below the EU average.

While Italy, Lithuania and Slovakia have met the implementation deadline, Austria faces potential state liability if it continues to delay.

In Germany, the legal framework is more settled. In October 2024, the Federal Labour Court (BAG) ruled that blanket confidentiality clauses in employment contracts banning any discussion of pay are invalid. As early as 2009, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Labour Court held that talking about one’s own salary is legally protected and does not count as a trade secret.

Still, a general duty of loyalty applies. Since April 2019, the German Trade Secrets Act has raised the bar: disclosing genuine trade secrets can carry criminal consequences. The Pay Transparency Act of 2017 already grants employees in companies with at least 200 staff the right to request information on pay structures.

The Apple-OpenAI case illustrates just how narrow the line can become between legitimate information sharing and misappropriation of secrets — a dilemma that European lawmakers and companies will increasingly face as pay transparency rules expand across the continent.

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