Apple investors urge company to undergo civil rights audit

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Technology Writer

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple’s shareholders have approved a proposal urging the iPhone maker to undergo an independent audit assessing its treatment of female and minority employees. The shareholder vote delivered a rare rebuke to a management team that runs the world’s most valuable company. The measure passed during Apple’s annual meeting Friday is nonbinding, so the company isn’t required to adopt the recommendation. But rebuffing the wishes of its shareholders would thrust Apple into an uncomfortable position, especially since the company has long cast itself as a champion of civil rights. Apple had argued that an audit is unnecessary, pointing to its recent progress in gender and racial equity.