Steve Jobs promised Wayne Goodrich that he would always have a job.
But now that Goodrich has been laid off by the company, he is suing.
In 2005, Goodrich says that Jobs called him in for a one-on-one meeting in which he said his employment at Apple was guaranteed for life. The promise came at a time when Jobs was concerned about his health, so clearly what he wanted was for Goodrich to avoid exactly what has happened.
Goodrich worked as executive producer for Apple’s high-profile presentations. So when you saw Steve Jobs up on stage unveiling the newest iPhones and iPads, it was Goodrich who orchestrated those events.
Clearly, in this capacity, he worked very close to Jobs and must have forged quite a strong connection.
He had been working for Apple since 1998.
“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,” the employee wrote in his complaint.
The main point of contention, he says, is the windfall of restricted stock he received in 2008, when the price was $97.40 per share. Now, that dollar value is $635 per share.
Apple has not released a statement regarding the lawsuit. Its lawyers are, after all, pretty busy with Samsung at the moment.
