A tax form left on an Apple office printer has sparked a proposed gender discrimination class action lawsuit involving more than 12,000 current and former female employees, who claim they were systematically paid less than their male counterparts for the same work—a disparity allegedly reinforced by Apple’s compensation policies and hiring practices.The case was initiated by three named plaintiffs, including Justina Jong, who discovered the pay gap in 2019 when she found her male colleague’s tax form showing he earned $10,000 more than she did for an equivalent role.A judge in San Francisco Superior Court recently gave the case the go-ahead to proceed, and lawyers for the plaintiffs hope to receive class action status. If approved by the court, women who started working in Apple’s California engineering, marketing, and AppleCare departments in the four years prior to the lawsuit filing, as well as those hired before the case concludes, are eligible to take part.Since the three plaintiffs filed their case, it’s since grown to include thousands of participants. The lawsuit claims that Apple’s use of salary expectations perpetuated pay disparities, even after California banned inquiries about prior salaries in 2018. Apple argued the claims could not be addressed as a class action due to the individualized nature of employment decisions, but the judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to proceed. The lawsuit also alleges Jong faced sexual harassment by a senior Apple employee from 2015 to 2022, which Apple attempted to dismiss, but the judge rejected their arguments.Image: Steve Proehl/Getty Images