In a groundbreaking legal action, more than 12,000 former and current female employees of Apple have filed a lawsuit against the tech giant in the California state court. The women allege that the company has systematically paid them less than their male counterparts for performing the same work.

According to Report, which cites Bloomberg, Justina Chung and Amina Salgado, who have worked at Apple for over a decade, discovered that after employee evaluations, men consistently received higher ratings for teamwork and leadership. Chung revealed that she is paid $10,000 less than her male colleagues for the same job responsibilities.

Salgado stated that she had raised concerns with Apple's management on multiple occasions, but the company failed to increase her salary until an external organization conducted an audit. The plaintiffs, representing 12,000 women from Apple's engineering, marketing, and technical support divisions in California, are demanding that the court declare the company's actions unlawful and order compensation.