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Apple Retail Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Over 'Bag Check' Lost Wages
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I'm confident to say no.
I'm confident to say no, I in fact haven't carried around a phone for over 14 years. I refuse to pay so much money to have conversations with whiney people and get tons of spam. When the phone rates are like that across the pond at 4 dollars a month unlimited data, then I might, I might consider a Blackberry.
In terms of this big shiny red fruit company and law suits - get over it, move on, we live in a "free"(?) country, there are billions of 'new jobs' (?) being created everyday, jump into a new job.
What I'm encouraging is get over it and build a new, get educated and empowered, perhaps even open your own company or start your own thing, employ others and learn real interpersonal skills in dealing with employees. Hopefully you wont turn into a neglecting tyrant manager yourselves.
I have my own company and I create jobs and opportunities for young and aspiring recording artists every other day, they get to be their own boss they don't answer to me and I don't check their bags, they get to use and take what ever they want as long as they bring it back...
Yes - shed all the light you want on bad business practices, at the end of the day, we in the 'WEST' can do something about it, we can get out of it and move on to something better. In other parts of the world GOOD Freaking LUCK, who is over there helping those people have fair treatment huh huh who? Non of us.
Stop justifying and start liberating yourselves. These companies are only going to throw tons of money at the problems and nothing ever gets resolved. You can resolve everything if you just walk away and create your own jobs.
Thank you. ^_^
Nobody "needs" a phone, but I bet you and nearly everyone else here carries one around.
I'm confident to say no, I in fact haven't carried around a phone for over 14 years. I refuse to pay so much money to have conversations with whiney people and get tons of spam. When the phone rates are like that across the pond at 4 dollars a month unlimited data, then I might, I might consider a Blackberry.
In terms of this big shiny red fruit company and law suits - get over it, move on, we live in a "free"(?) country, there are billions of 'new jobs' (?) being created everyday, jump into a new job.
What I'm encouraging is get over it and build a new, get educated and empowered, perhaps even open your own company or start your own thing, employ others and learn real interpersonal skills in dealing with employees. Hopefully you wont turn into a neglecting tyrant manager yourselves.
I have my own company and I create jobs and opportunities for young and aspiring recording artists every other day, they get to be their own boss they don't answer to me and I don't check their bags, they get to use and take what ever they want as long as they bring it back...
Yes - shed all the light you want on bad business practices, at the end of the day, we in the 'WEST' can do something about it, we can get out of it and move on to something better. In other parts of the world GOOD Freaking LUCK, who is over there helping those people have fair treatment huh huh who? Non of us.
Stop justifying and start liberating yourselves. These companies are only going to throw tons of money at the problems and nothing ever gets resolved. You can resolve everything if you just walk away and create your own jobs.
Thank you. ^_^
I worked for Apple Retail (non-USA) for almost 2 years. This was an issue at least 85% of my shifts. Several of my friends had started diarizing unpaid time a couple of months back, now this lawsuit has solidified their resolve even further.
Apple does employee satisfaction surveys, and the unpaid waiting to leave for lunch or at end of shift was always complaint number 1. One friend even approached the leadership team with a copy of our local Labour Standards Laws to politely ask for back pay and was rebuked and told to contact Apple legal. He decided to start diarizing his case as a first step.
To everyone commenting, "don't bring a bag", if you had any electronic products on your person, you are to submit them for serial number review which was almost everyone. Many of us started sneaking out, we could get fired for it, but I'd lose 10 minutes of my 1 hour lunch break some days, followed by 10 minutes at end of shift.
This problem has been further exacerbated by many Apple Retail stores leasing "off-site" break areas. Some stores have a 5 minute walk to their break rooms now, previously you were allowed to take lunch in the back of house at the store and not tech check first. Now you have to wait the 5-10 minutes for a tech check AND then, walk the 5 minutes to off-site break room.
Locally, our labour standards require an employee pay each employee to get prepared for work, i.e. paid to grab an EasyPay to check in, or in my day wait in line to TaCiCo (check-in) on the one available iMac in the break area. It also includes a provision for me to get into my work uniform. What this meant in practice is that if Apple scheduled us for 8:00am, then they should have expected us to get on the floor at 8:05am at the earliest. Otherwise the 5-10 minutes it took to get ready, and check-in was uncompensated.
One of the departments I work with in my current role gets around this by paying 15 minutes of "report time" on each shift. That way an 8:00am start is actually at 8:00am, but you get paid for "phantom" time starting at 7:45am.
You gotta hire someone. Even good cars can go off the rails. The Department of Pre-Crime still only exists in fiction.
Let's do the Math
Let's do some simple math here:
10 minutes (Avg. time to wait for a bag check according to the lawsuit) x 4 days a week (a reasonable number of days a retail employee works) = 40 minutes a week x 4 weeks a month = 160 minutes x 12 months = 1,920 minutes a year or 32 hours of time wasted waiting for bag checks in a year.
For many retail employees, 32 hours is a week of work. I would be pissed if I was missing out on a week of pay for a corporate policy. For those who say big deal it is only a few hundred bucks; take a moment to imagine if you were missing out on a week of pay. The principle is still the same and it is wrong.
Apple should be nailed for this if this is happening. Requiring someone to undergo a bag check that is done off the clock or while cutting into a required break or lunch period is not paying someone while undergoing a requirement of the employer. The arguement that someone could just not bring a bag in is moot. If Apple doesn't have a no bag policy than an employee has the right to bring in a bag. By not allowing an employee to leave the store before undergoing a bag check is keeping someone at work, without pay.
Let's do some simple math here:
10 minutes (Avg. time to wait for a bag check according to the lawsuit) x 4 days a week (a reasonable number of days a retail employee works) = 40 minutes a week x 4 weeks a month = 160 minutes x 12 months = 1,920 minutes a year or 32 hours of time wasted waiting for bag checks in a year.
For many retail employees, 32 hours is a week of work. I would be pissed if I was missing out on a week of pay for a corporate policy. For those who say big deal it is only a few hundred bucks; take a moment to imagine if you were missing out on a week of pay. The principle is still the same and it is wrong.
Apple should be nailed for this if this is happening. Requiring someone to undergo a bag check that is done off the clock or while cutting into a required break or lunch period is not paying someone while undergoing a requirement of the employer. The arguement that someone could just not bring a bag in is moot. If Apple doesn't have a no bag policy than an employee has the right to bring in a bag. By not allowing an employee to leave the store before undergoing a bag check is keeping someone at work, without pay.
I did the math early on in the thread as well (you were more conservative) to illustrate the point.
Not aimed at you - but this has all been discussed. The only issue is whether or not a company can legally eat into an hourly employee's break time. And also before/after work hours. But I believe the real "complaint" here is about lunch breaks being shortened.
The legal precedent certainly seems to be there with other lawsuits (Forever 21, Polo Ralph Lauren). I hope Apple will settle the lawsuit and change their policies.
Huh? It's almost exactly analogous. There are employees who are suing an employer with the claim that they are being required to perform work that benefits the company without being compensated for it. How does it not resemble?
I think the best solution is to let them have bag searches on the clock. AND to offset the extra pay just cut EVERY store employees hours by 15 minutes a day.
If my employees ever tried to pull something like this I would find a way to push them out the door or transfer them to another department. A happy work environment is a productive one.
If my employees ever tried to pull something like this I would find a way to push them out the door or transfer them to another department. A happy work environment is a productive one.
The law in California
Is that you are to be paid for the hours you are expected to work. If an employer tells you to come in at 6:45 and you work at 7:00 than you are to be paid for those 15 minutes. The employer can threaten to fire you and may even do so, then it would be unlawful termination. If Apple wants employee's to stay after the shift is over then they must pay to do so. Hire security to check the employee's bags at the door, make it their sole job. That way people are only waiting a minute or two. If an employee has to wait more than that for a manager then Apple should pay up. The employee is being forced to stay, they can't just leave. I could care less about maybe they shouldn't bring a bag or purse. If the employer want's to check their employee's bags then they need to make sure they have the resources and manpower to do so in a reasonable amount of time. Not too much to ask for is it?
Is that you are to be paid for the hours you are expected to work. If an employer tells you to come in at 6:45 and you work at 7:00 than you are to be paid for those 15 minutes. The employer can threaten to fire you and may even do so, then it would be unlawful termination. If Apple wants employee's to stay after the shift is over then they must pay to do so. Hire security to check the employee's bags at the door, make it their sole job. That way people are only waiting a minute or two. If an employee has to wait more than that for a manager then Apple should pay up. The employee is being forced to stay, they can't just leave. I could care less about maybe they shouldn't bring a bag or purse. If the employer want's to check their employee's bags then they need to make sure they have the resources and manpower to do so in a reasonable amount of time. Not too much to ask for is it?
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