Ex-Apple employee Wayne Goodrich has sued his former company for terminating him, claiming the the late Steve Jobs had guaranteed him employment. In court documents uncovered by Bloomberg, Mr. Goodrich said that he was the executive producer of Apple’s public presentations, and he claimed to be a close confidant to Mr. Jobs.
Mr. Goodrich worked at Apple from 1998 until he was terminated in December of 2011. In his complaint, he is claiming that he was terminated so that Apple wouldn’t have to pay restricted stock units he had earned during his employment.
He said that Apple terminated him for what the company said were “business reasons” that were unconnected to his performance. He is asking for damages for lost restricted stock units, wages, benefits and emotional distress.
“This express promise by Steve Jobs was consistent with a practice that Steve Jobs had, acting on behalf of defendant Apple, of promising job security to certain key employees who worked directly with him for many years,” Mr. Goodrich said in his complaint.
He said that he was the executive producer of all of Apple’s public presentations, including the famous Steve Jobs keynotes that became an institution. He said that he worked directly with Steve Jobs to plan the events.
He also said that in a meeting with Mr. Jobs in 2005 after the Apple cofounder returned from his first medical leave of absence that Mr. Jobs said there would always be a job for him at Apple, even if something should happen to him. Mr. Jobs died in October of 2011, and Mr. Goodrich was terminated less than three months later.
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