Apple Retail Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Bag Check' Lost Wages

MacRumors · Jul 29, 2013

A pair of former Apple Retail employees have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for lost wages. The lawsuit stems from an Apple retail policy that requires employees have their personal bags and purses inspected by managers before leaving the store for breaks, lunches and at the end of a shift.

The lawsuit alleges that employees are made to wait -- off the clock -- for as long as 5 to 15 minutes per shift while waiting for a manager to inspect their belongings for stolen property. The policy is in effect at all Apple Retail stores and could potentially affect thousands of employees going back more than 10 years.

Apple has engaged and continues to engage in illegal and improper wage practices that have deprived Apple Hourly Employees throughout the United States of millions of dollars in wages and overtime compensation. These practices include requiring Apple Hourly Employees to wait in line and undergo two off-the-clock security bags searches and clearance checks when they leave for their meal breaks and after they have clocked out at the end of their shifts.

These "personal package and bag searches" are done for the sole benefit of Apple; are a uniform practice and policy in all Apple retail stores nationwide; and are not imposed on Apple's customers. This illegal practice and policy has been known to the Defendant for years and Apple continues to require Apple Hourly Employees to endure these required but uncompensated security checks. For this reason, Plaintiffs bring this action on behalf of themselves and other Apple Hourly Employees to recover unpaid wages, overtime compensation, penalties, interest, injunctive relief, damages and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages and accuses Apple of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act as well as other state labor laws. The initial filing, for the US District Court for the Northern District of California, is embedded below.

Disclosure: Jordan Golson is a former Apple Retail employee and is potentially part of the class.

Article Link: Apple Retail Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Bag Check' Lost Wages

bearda · Jul 29, 2013

Makes sense. As much of a pain as it is to have to endure these bags checks having to do it on your own time is unreasonable.

twilson · Jul 29, 2013

Oh dear!

Great way secure your place on the unemployable list. Who'd want to employ a clock-watching, troublemaker?

Admittedly, policies should ensure checks are done "on the clock".

unobtainium · Jul 29, 2013

If I were an Apple retail employee that would certainly annoy me. Half-hour lunch breaks are short enough (I'm a slow eater) without having 5-15 minutes of unpaid wait-time eating into your break.

Arcus · Jul 29, 2013

twilson said:
Great way secure your place on the unemployable list. Who'd want to employ a clock-watching, troublemaker?

Apple FORCES you to make sure you clock out at +- your specified shift end , like most other jobs. Employees have to watch the clock or they get in trouble. You must live in fantasy land.

MonstaMash · Jul 29, 2013

My employer's computers take soooo long to boot up. And I am forced to wait for them to load before I can clock in. Time to sue for 10 years of backpay.

soundguyami · Jul 29, 2013

It will get thrown out. Employee is not required to bring personal property to the store. Factories have been doing this for decades at their gates.

j.applewood · Jul 29, 2013

So, every Apple employee will be paid out an extra $15 for their unpaid hour per every 5 years of employment. Oh, alright.

unobtainium · Jul 29, 2013

twilson said:
Great way secure your place on the unemployable list. Who'd want to employ a clock-watching, troublemaker?

Really? They're already making near minimum wage, and they get very short breaks, which are illegally being shortened by the company. And you're going to take the company's side in this?

No wonder we have a shrinking middle class in this country, people are dolts.

JCCL · Jul 29, 2013

MonstaMash said:
My employer's computers take soooo long to boot up. And I am forced to wait for them to load before I can clock in. Time to sue for 10 years of backpay.

Yeah but you boot up your computer while you are already on your shift, you don't have to get 20 minutes earlier to ensure the computer is booted up by the time your shift starts.

britboyj · Jul 29, 2013

Where do I sign up?

Sneakz · Jul 29, 2013

As far as I know, Best Buy does (or did) this as well. All the employees leaving after close (like 10 or 11PM) had to line up and have backpacks, lunchbags, handbags, purses checked. Most guys simply didn't bother with bags for closing shifts, so you could skip the line.

thefourthpope · Jul 29, 2013

Disclaimer: I have not a will not read the full lawsuit.

Sounds legit. Class action stuff typically leaves me cold, but employees should be paid for time doing work-related activities. It would be cool if they got wages due plus interest, but the final number will have to be much greater to satisfy the lawyers (who are the reason I typically hate class actions)

tldizard · Jul 29, 2013

A lot of lawsuits of this nature have been filed, and won. Sanitation workers were made to attend safety briefings 15 minutes before and after each shift, off the clock. They sued and won years of back overtime pay because it was additional hours on top of their mandatory 8-hour shift.

The plaintiffs will win this one, too much case precedent already exists.

thefourthpope · Jul 29, 2013

twilson said:
Great way secure your place on the unemployable list. Who'd want to employ a clock-watching, troublemaker?

Admittedly, policies should ensure checks are done "on the clock".

I'm not sure how you expect the latter to happen without the former

BJMRamage · Jul 29, 2013

what a joke!

crackbookpro · Jul 29, 2013

Not good.

NoCleverSNForMe · Jul 29, 2013

MonstaMash said:
My employer's computers take soooo long to boot up. And I am forced to wait for them to load before I can clock in. Time to sue for 10 years of backpay.

Yeah, but you were ALREADY clocked in while your employer's computers were taking soooo long to boot up. You were getting paid while you waited for your computer to boot up.

As an hourly employee, every minute counts.

I worked for Apple Retail for 3 years...$8.25/hr. 15 minutes = $2.0625. That's $2.0625 every single time, every single shift.

When I was a teenager, that wasn't small potatoes. That added up!

musser · Jul 29, 2013

whine. but get real.

grow up. you have a job. a good job. stop whining.

MegamanX · Jul 29, 2013

Good, I hope Apple loses for no other reason than to set a presidencies and have other companies that did this pay up and pay up fast.

if a company wants to force you to do bag checks it better be on their dime. It should not take away from my break or lunch break.

Nungster · Jul 29, 2013

Other retail employers have had Loss Prevention issues. Some have gone to the point of only allowing employees to use clear zippered bags.

The other option is to not bring bags into work.

I think they have a case if the employee handbook doesn't state the policy. If it does, they chose to work there, and knew what they were being subject to.

cyberddot · Jul 29, 2013

unobtainium said:
No wonder we have a shrinking middle class in this country, people are dolts.

Glass houses and all that....

Granted, Apple gets more press time over its lawsuits than most companies...but litigation in the US over one's lack of personal responsibility has run rampant. So much so that when I asked someone on a trip what they thought of Americans they summarized "they eat too much, and they sue too much", and that was 8 years ago.

As another poster mentioned...don't want to be inconvenienced by a bag check? How 'bout leaving your bag at home? In the car? No...calling a lawyer isn't the next logical step.

Nungster · Jul 29, 2013

MegamanX said:
Good, I hope Apple loses for no other reason than to set a presidencies and have other companies that did this pay up and pay up fast.

if a company wants to force you to do bag checks it better be on their dime. It should not take away from my break or lunch break.

Although the company did not require the employee to bring in a bag to work.

I am not a fan of companies milking the clock on employees, but see it from their side as well.

hudson1 · Jul 29, 2013

tldizard said:
A lot of lawsuits of this nature have been filed, and won. Sanitation workers were made to attend safety briefings 15 minutes before and after each shift, off the clock. They sued and won years of back overtime pay because it was additional hours on top of their mandatory 8-hour shift.

The plaintiffs will win this one, too much case precedent already exists.

There might be precedent cases but your example isn't one of them. This case is more analogous to where someone sues the company for back pay because there was a traffic jam getting out of the company parking lot. Also, anyone know how often this is/was a problem where it seriously slowed people down?

BJMRamage · Jul 29, 2013

soundguyami said:
It will get thrown out. Employee is not required to bring personal property to the store. Factories have been doing this for decades at their gates.

kinda true.

there is no need to bring in bags to be checked.
if that is the policy, then don't do it. and you are not working while waiting so no payment needed.

Though when i worked at a low-wage place i didn't need to take breaks throughout the day. some would take more smoke breaks and stay outside the building. if i wanted a break, it would be when the customer base was slow. I stayed in the store...sure i was "working" but since there wasn't a customer i wasn't really working. then after a bit i would clean or something if still no customer. if you have time to lean you have time to clean.

Apple Retail Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Bag Check' Lost Wages

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