Apple Retail Employees Alleged to be Treated as 'Criminals' in Bag Check Lawsuit

[MacRumors]

A few retail employees at Apple Store locations have complained directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying the company's policy of checking its employees' bags for security reasons was "embarrassing and demeaning." The new record comes from a court filing and is part of a 2013 lawsuit claiming the Cupertino company should compensate its employees for the time the bag checks take (via Reuters).

One of the workers in the lawsuit sent an email to Cook back in 2012, claiming that Apple retail store managers "are required to treat 'valued' employees as criminals." In the filing it was said that Cook then forwarded the complaint to both top retail and human resources executives asking, "Is this true?" No responses to Cook's inquiry were documented within the filing made public this week.

In the original lawsuit, which is seeking class action status after being dismissed last year, Amanda Friekin and Dean Pelle claimed that these bag checks were mandatory every time a sales rep left the store and were meant to discourage theft. In one of the original emails sent to Cook in 2012, the employee simply claims Apple's strict policy breeds an environment of distrust amongst its otherwise loyal workers.

In the 2012 email to Cook, with a subject line "Fearless Feedback from Apple Retail Specialist," the employee said Apple's policy implies the company does not trust its workers.

"These procedures are often performed in front of gawking customers," the employee wrote, adding that workers deserve to be treated with the same respect that Apple shows customers.

As Reuters points out, in a Supreme Court ruling last December, Amazon won out over a group of its employees who sued the company for monetary compensation in the time they spent going through security checks at the end of their shifts. The Supreme Court's ruling erred on Amazon's side because it found these security checks were not a "principal activity" of the employees' job description.

A hearing in the lawsuit is set for a July 2 date in court.

Article Link: Apple Retail Employees Alleged to be Treated as 'Criminals' in Bag Check Lawsuit

 

[nookster]

"...gawking customers..." made me grin for some reason.

 

[0098386]

This seems so bizarre, just so this is right in my head; Apple managers check their employees bags? That's horrible.

 

[pad1986]

hmmm...
Although this is in the retail department - there is often a lot of leaks that come directly from apple employees...
There is also a lot of expensive items and you can't trust people at face value...

Granted back then they didn't have 24k gold watches in the building, but they certainly should do bag checks now...

And let's face it... if you have nothing to hide, what's the problem... Apple should be clear that bag checks is part of the job - that way if you don't want it, then don't work there...

By the sounds of it the people are suing for the time it took, not the fact it was happening... i would turn round and say "ok my great knowledgable people..." (who are not always that knowledgable -- I've seen people turn to other customers for answers instead...ive even had people come ask me instead...lol) "...we will pay you back for the time it took to search your bags - the whole 2mins each time - but all those extra bonuses, discounts, presents, gift cards we give you will stop... this will teach you for being so god darn ungrateful people...go work for Mcdonalds and then tell me if you feel more valued there than here."

 

[Menel]

Low wage high school kids working a near skill-less job, whining.
Meh. Lots of small valuable items, its a logical and reasonable policy common in retail junk jobs.

 

[lightbursts]

I live right by a Whole Foods and walk my dog past it a little after closing each night. Every night, as employees leave, the security guard does a bag check. I feel it's a little demeaning, especially with groceries, which aren't high ticket items, but obviously, this isn't an uncommon practice for stores.

 

[2457282]

It has been a long time since I worked in retail, but I can assure you that even way back then (and not at an apple store) this was usual and customary practice. I thought the only questionable practice was that the employee had to clock out before the check and at time had to wait for a long time before they could leave. If they were to rule against Apple here I could see two implications -- first it would reach beyond apple to all retail companies that have similar practices and second I could see that they would not allow employees to bring in any bag or purse to work. Not sure that is the desired effect, but could easily be the outcome.

 

[furbzv1]

I thought this was common for all retail jobs.. I used to get my bag checked every time when I used to work at the Gap 10 years ago

 

[johnnyturbouk]

I think my position on the matter is likely to be controversial, however, i feel apple are perfectly justified to check employee bags. As others have mentioned, many companies do this, especially when such high value items are clustered in high density, juxtaposed with the huge number of employees a single store may employ. I do agree however, this should not hugely demean or inconvenience the employees.

 

[0098386]

Is this a US-thing perhaps? When my girlfriend used to work in high-end retail she never had her bags searched. We live in the UK. I don't think we do drugs/urine tests either (which I always thought was a little invasive. I wouldn't work anywhere that demanded I gave them urine samples).

 

[QuarterSwede]

Home Depot is supposed to check employee bags before they leave but they almost never do, even in high theft stores.

To be honest, I've never felt it to be demeaning. Although as a member of management I know how much internal theft has been caught (a lot).

 

[keysofanxiety]

Low wage high school kids working a near skill-less job, whining.
Meh. Lots of small valuable items, its a logical and reasonable policy common in retail junk jobs.

The main issue is that these checks take time and it isn't counted, so the employees suffer - there were other employees who said the time this took came out of their lunch break which to me is unacceptable.

I appreciate this is the norm for high-value item stores, though they shouldn't be doing checks in front of customers and Apple should be treating their employees with a little more respect. The Apple Stores do work hard, 7 days a week, and they're normally open 12-13 hours a day. Furthermore they do all the repairs in the evening so when they close up the doors it's not like they're twiddling their thumbs. I've had a call at 11:30PM to say that my MacBook was repaired (on the same day it was dropped off, may I add).

I think you should treat people in the customer service industry with a little more respect; what people don't often appreciate is all the BS/angry consumers that they have to put up with as well, which just piles onto these existing issues. It's not appropriate to brush these issues under the carpet and just put it down to 'whining high school kids'; at the very least it deserves a thorough investigation.

 

[AppleFan4Life83]

I rarely comment but here's my two cents...

I definitely understand their plight and blame Apple for not being more creative and thinking outside the box about this. There is a simple solution to this and it is already being used. Instead of subjecting workers (who you should be trusting) to bag checks, why not install a policy of requiring any bags that are brought to the back be clear or see thru.

A friend of mine is a pharmacist and having bookbags or even a purse is prohibited since they could easily steal bottles of drugs. However, they are allowed to bring clear totes to work. It allows for security cameras to see inside her bag and she isn't subjected to searches before she leaves work.

Think smarter, Apple...

 

[Recognition]

I worked at Selfridges in London as a contractor and we always had our bags checked, as did all the Selfridges staff I saw leaving through the security entrances.
Common practice at any high profile business.

 

[quagmire]

I think my position on the matter is likely to be controversial, however, i feel apple are perfectly justified to check employee bags. As others have mentioned, many companies do this, especially when such high value items are clustered in high density, juxtaposed with the huge number of employees a single store may employ. I do agree however, this should not hugely demean or inconvenience the employees.

I don't mind it either, but I think two things should happen.

1. They should be compensated for it. They shouldn't have to do the search off the clock. Especially since it apparently takes a long time for the check to happen.

2. They should do it privately away from other employees and customers.

 

[AppleFan4Life83]

 

[Fizzoid]

Is this a US-thing perhaps? When my girlfriend used to work in high-end retail she never had her bags searched. We live in the UK. I don't think we do drugs/urine tests either (which I always thought was a little invasive. I wouldn't work anywhere that demanded I gave them urine samples).

Nope, had my bag checked when leaving, after visiting a Habitat store to fix an EPOS issue. I did find it a little demeaning to say the least, as I was doing them a favour on my way in to the office so they didn't have to wait for a field engineer.

Not only that, my laptop bag was full when I arrived, so the only way I could have left the store with anything was to leave something more expensive behind...

 

[NY Guitarist]

I see nothing wrong with checking employees bags, but do it out of the view of customers and on Apple's tim.

There's no reason this should be at the expense of the employee's personal time, after all it's Apple's policy not the choice of the individual who is being inconvenienced.

 

[Soba]

This is standard practice in a lot of workplaces, and not merely for-profit ones.

I once worked in a museum where employees were subject to random bag checks as we left through the security entrance. Briefcases, laptop cases, and even large lunch bags were all checked randomly by security. It happened to all employees, even Vice Presidents who had worked there for decades.

I have not read this lawsuit, so I don't know what the basis of the complaint is, but I don't see how one can demand compensation for the time taken to have one's bag checked since it takes mere moments and you're on your way. I also don't see how it's demeaning since (I presume) it's a neutral policy applied to everyone, though as a matter of policy, this (as with any aspect of "back of the house" operations) should never occur in front of customers.

If you don't like the policy, then don't work there.

 

[iBlazed]

Any excuse to get your money's worth out of that stock photo huh macrumors?

 

[centauro1210]

and that picture is overdue is on all the blogs and forums

 

[centauro1210]

 

[jpgr15]

<deleted>

 

[question fear]

I see nothing wrong with checking employees bags, but do it out of the view of customers and on Apple's tim.

There's no reason this should be at the expense of the employee's personal time, after all it's Apple's policy not the choice of the individual who is being inconvenienced.

Agreed. When I worked for Borders we were required to have our bag checked at the end of the day. We also had to check in if we brought in our own book, or a product the store sold, and get a sticker with a manager's initials to prove we didn't steal it. But I rarely did bag checks on the sale floor from what I remember (hey, it was almost 10 years ago). Mostly I tried to check employee's bags as they were clocking out, unless we were slamming busy and they had to find me to get the OK.

Also, we weren't actually allowed to touch anyone's stuff, it was just a "hey, here's whats in my bag, here's my special sticker that says I brought this book, ok, see ya later". It was a 10-second process.

 

[question fear]

So, let me get this straight. Any person off the street can just waltz in, grab something off the shelf and walk out under the premise they checked themselves out (and they are trusted to do so) but Apple is searching their own employees? Seems backwards to me.

Employees have more access to product that can be stolen. It's not a justification, but it's a reality.