Apple Inc. lost an early legal fight in California over a discrimination case filed by Anita Nariani Schulze, an Indian female engineer. Schulze alleges her two male managers, one Indian and one Pakistani, treated her as a subordinate due to cultural and gender bias. She says they excluded her from meetings, criticized her unfairly, micromanaged her work, and denied her bonuses despite good performance. Schulze claims the treatment was due to sexism, racism, religious bias, and national origin discrimination. Her Sindhi Hindu background, known for gender equality and technical skills, made the unfair treatment worse. On Wednesday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni rejected Apple’s request to dismiss the case, saying Schulze had enough evidence to keep it alive. However, he denied her attempt to represent a larger group of female Apple employees, as she did not show a pattern of discrimination that applied broadly. The judge has yet to issue a final ruling. Meanwhile, in a separate case, Cisco Systems is fighting allegations of caste discrimination by two Indian employees against a Dalit coworker. Cisco denied the claims and said caste is not recognized under U.S. civil rights law. Both cases highlight cultural and workplace bias issues in Silicon Valley tech firms.