How is tort reform going to prevent corporations from violating labor protection laws? If anything, it will give them a greater incentive to skirt the laws.
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Apple Facing Class Action Lawsuit From 20,000 Employees Over Alleged Labor Code Violations
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How is tort reform going to prevent corporations from violating labor protection laws? If anything, it will give them a greater incentive to skirt the laws.
Honestly, I work for apple and I've never had problems with the timeliness of my breaks. It's one of the things that struck me when I was first employed, how much they care. I've been with the company for several years now and I've worked at different stores: all the same story. It's unfortunate this happened to some of my colleagues.
Safe to say none of the employees involved in the class action will ever own there own business.
Apple should settle this immediately and do a complete management overhaul to ensure they comply with the law.
This makes Apple look extremely bad and is not good for their image and target market.
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If they did they would probably comply with simple laws such as these.
This makes Apple look extremely bad and is not good for their image and target market.
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If they did they would probably comply with simple laws such as these.
I'm not generalising Americans. I'm generalising the particular Americans on this site who make it clear they support Apple allegedly breaking the laws of their home state.
The generalisation comes now: Americans are way too nationalistic. A small amount of criticism about certain parts of your society (parts of society that exist everywhere in the world) somehow becomes a major affront to all Americans. Why??? Does constructive criticism and sarcasm not exist in America???
And just so we're clear, the above paragraph was an example of constructive criticism and sarcasm...
i worked for apple retail in canada as a creative for 4 years, fresh out of school. It was a good place to work, paid very well, had great benefits, and was a pretty solid community.
That said, there were a bunch of times me or colleagues worked 5,6,7 hours straight without a break or lunch. As a smaller, more specialized team, we were often left to figure out sick calls and fill the blanks ourselves. Since we were paid very well compared to anyone in the store, there was kind of an unspoken "suck it up" attitude.
Its not the end of the world, but its definitely dissapointing. This isn't our own small business, this isn't a salaried position with potential growth options -- its simply an unhealthy work environment that is very high stress. Breaks are very important for the mental health reset in a workplace where you have to be 100% positive all the time. Think of how highly you think of apple -- apple employees feel that much more attached to the company and do not want to let their team down.
Its frustrating hearing people criticize the employees.
That said, there were a bunch of times me or colleagues worked 5,6,7 hours straight without a break or lunch. As a smaller, more specialized team, we were often left to figure out sick calls and fill the blanks ourselves. Since we were paid very well compared to anyone in the store, there was kind of an unspoken "suck it up" attitude.
Its not the end of the world, but its definitely dissapointing. This isn't our own small business, this isn't a salaried position with potential growth options -- its simply an unhealthy work environment that is very high stress. Breaks are very important for the mental health reset in a workplace where you have to be 100% positive all the time. Think of how highly you think of apple -- apple employees feel that much more attached to the company and do not want to let their team down.
Its frustrating hearing people criticize the employees.
I guess these poor things should not go into teaching, either. Five hours is routine before lunch. And we don't get potty breaks, either.
The sad part is the amount of money that will be wasted on this case.
The sad part is the amount of money that will be wasted on this case.
I didn't know slavery had been reinstated. Lincoln would be laughing at this one.
Yeah this and then "Change the World" in your signature.
most developers make a hell of a lot more money than any retail apple store employee.
They had to go 5 hours without a meal break!? That is just flat out human torture! *rolls eyes* how ever did those employees survive?!
Is that really the law in California? A meal break after only 5 hours?
EDIT: to clarify, I read meal breaks as having time to sit down and have a proper lunch, like 30 minutes
Is that really the law in California? A meal break after only 5 hours?
EDIT: to clarify, I read meal breaks as having time to sit down and have a proper lunch, like 30 minutes
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You would think....my pay was insulting. Also pay is different depending what market you work in.
Apple doesn't need they need to compensate you fairly because they believe that working for them is a privilege.
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They don't. Go work there and don't formulate an opinion until after year when you're "OMG I work at apple" giddy feelings go away.
It's pretty standard, imo... That's the law here in most of Canada as well. Would you really want to have to wait until after 2pm to eat if you started at 9am??
I *really* wish people here would stop rolling their eyes and saying that these employees are whiners, etc, etc. People had to fight hard for these regulations and rules for all of us and now a lot of you are apparently willing to throw it away. It's regulated because if you give companies an inch they take a mile. A lot of big companies would love some of the commenters on here - look, they'd say - a lot of people don't even *want* their lunch breaks!
Whether I'm a lawyer or not doesn't matter. I was interested in why the person I responded to thought tort reform would fix this situation.
It sure is not standard in Texas, which is where I am from and work.
And I have worked countless times from 9am-2PM going in and out in the hot sun without having a lunch break before and I turned out just fine and I sure wasn't starving or felt starved at work. Yes this was a pretty regular hourly job at a grocery store.
You said you're from Canada, so you might not know what is "standard" or not. Here in the US I am pretty sure most of these laws are governed by state and NOT governed by the federal government. So I will roll my eyes if I want because where I am from it is perfectly normal to work 5 hours and not have a lunch break. If they were here they more than likely wouldn't get a 30 minute lunch break unless they work at least 7 hours that day. 5 hours? You might not even receive a break much a less a meal/lunch like is being demanded.
Thats true also for Apple developers and engineers. They're all part of the same company but they have very different wages.
My brother-in-law works in the Software team at Cupertino and sometimes he works way more than 5 hours without having a break, but of course the pay is very good so he doesn't mind.
I am an app developer and sometimes I work 14 hours straight, with no more than 15 minutes meal break.
Of course working in a shop is very different than working on a desk in front of a PC
Your brother-in-law is almost certainly an exempt employee, so these laws wouldn't apply to him.
Actually it is standard in TX. As it is with most states, the law specifies exactly what is and isn't an 'exempt' employee. Plus some jobs/sectors are exempt. I have lived and worked in TX all my life (I'm 63) and there were jobs covered by the law and some were exempt. It all depends.
As for this lawsuit, it's is CA law and Apple must comply. Period. Whether they did or not is yet to be determined.
Yeah, I didn't ask him but I think so.
In Italy we also had complains from people working at Apple stores, but is not very common to have class actions here and of course there aren't thousand of employees, we are talking about 14 stores in our country.
In France there was a strike a couple of years ago, I guess for the same reason of the lawsuit we are talking about. So maybe working at Apple store is not a dream job, despite the company is so "cool"
Anyway if a company is breaking the law is ok to take a class action against it, that's the bottom line.
First of all, it's bs because it doesn't matter where any Macrumors commenters are from or what the rules are where they are. Just because the laws in Texas are different, doesn't mean you should roll your eyes at Apple employees for bringing a lawsuit against the company for not following the labour code where they are. The labour code is the labour code, period. A lot of commenters here, in their whining, are essentially saying that they're okay with employers violating the code. The average citizen should never be okay with companies violating the code.
Secondly, to be honest... You shouldn't be rolling your eyes at this. You should be wondering - like I am - why employers in your state are allowed to treat you so much worse than employers in other states. Five hours in the hot sun? Not okay. it's great that you feel that you're just fine and all that, but honestly, you would probably feel far, far different if your employer was expected to give you those things and didn't.