Apple Set to Battle Class Action Lawsuit Over Labor Code Violations Starting Tomorrow

[MacRumors]

A class action lawsuit filed by four former Apple retail employees over alleged California Labor Code violations commences tomorrow in San Diego Superior Court.

A civil jury trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. local time in a courtroom presided over by the Honorable Eddie C. Sturgeon, nearly two years after Apple's appeal and motion for dismissal was denied in the case. The lawsuit, titled Felczer vs. Apple Inc., falls under the court's Department 67.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2011 and elevated to class action status in 2014, accuses Apple of failing to provide timely meal and rest breaks, failing to pay all wages due upon ending employment within the required time, and failing to provide accurate wage statements, according to court documents filed electronically.

The proposed class would involve all current, former, or prospective employees in California who have worked for Apple between December 16, 2007 and the time of trial, which totaled approximately 18,000 employees as of 2014. Any settlement awarded would be divided evenly between class members.

California Labor Code dictates that employees must be provided with at least a 30-minute meal break when the work period is more than five hours, and at least a 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked. The defendants claim Apple failed to always provide these breaks for at least four years prior to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the complaint notes Apple took several weeks to send out a final paycheck to multiple employees. As a result of these unlawful business practices, the lawsuit asks for compensatory damages and repayment of all wages owed, along with interest and legal fees, but it does not specify a damages amount.

Article Link: Apple Set to Battle Class Action Lawsuit Over Labor Code Violations Starting Tomorrow

 

[britboyj]

I worked for Apple retail for 3 years and corporate for 2, from 2008 to 2013. Breaks were mandated HARD. Like, you got written up if you didn't take them. 30 minutes if you went over 5 hours, a 15 if you were under.

I wouldn't be surprised if the violations here are rogue managers.

 

[macs4nw]

I had expected better from Apple.

 

[realeric]

I side with Apple. This is one of the reason why US companies move factories to China.

 

[eebrown]

Why any company wants to have a business in CA is beyond me, granted you have to treat employees fair but CA seems to go overboard. My company is being sued for the same thing in that state and knowing the facts as I do with my company it is real apparent it's a money grab by the employee and the lawyers. Can't speak about the apple charges but I would assume it's blown out of portion.

 

[ghanwani]

Does anything good ever come from class action suits? Maybe it helps conditions for future employees/customers/etc.

I just received a check for $0.04 (yes, 4 cents!) as a settlement for an AT&T class action lawsuit.

 

[robotica]

Sickening what some major companies do to there loyal employees.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I just received a check for $0.04 (yes, 4 cents!) as a settlement for an AT&T class action lawsuit.

Don't spend it all at once!

 

[calzon65]

I thought Apple was suppose to be a loving, caring, altruistic company that every company is suppose to emulate ... say it ain't so Apple.

 

[mi7chy]

Bunch of apologists. Every worker deserves their legally allowed lunch and break time including slaborers in China. With all the cash Apple has hidden away they can afford this.

 

[gavroche]

I had expected better from Apple.

So i presume you have already tried and found them guilty?
Having been sued does not mean you are guilty (yet). I had a friend that owned a business that was brought before the labor board multiple times by disgruntled employees. Not only did he win every time after he presented his evidence, but the judge on one occasion told an employee that was saying they were not paid overtime correctly that they were in fact OVERPAID..
Lets not rush to judgement until all facts are presented.

 

[boast]

Go Apple! Put those peasants back in their place.

 

[citysnaps]

Nice. People finding Apple guilty before the trial even begins. Shocker...

 

[Stpike2001]

Does anything good ever come from class action suits? Maybe it helps conditions for future employees/customers/etc.

I just received a check for $0.04 (yes, 4 cents!) as a settlement for an AT&T class action lawsuit.

It benefits he lawyers in the millions of dollars. While the plaintiffs they represent get checks for 4 cents.

 

[gavroche]

Why any company wants to have a business in CA is beyond me, granted you have to treat employees fair but CA seems to go overboard. My company is being sued for the same thing in that state and knowing the facts as I do with my company it is real apparent it's a money grab by the employee and the lawyers. Can't speak about the apple charges but I would assume it's blown out of portion.

When i worked in California they had a lot of crazy rules that were "intended" to help the employee, but generally always hurt. For example, while all states require overtime for over 40 hours worked... California requires overtime for more than 8 hours in a day, and for a certain number of days in a row... etc. While this sounds great, it just means that we always got scheduled less hours than we wanted to work, because they had to make sure to not violate any rules. I knew a lot of people that ended up having to get two jobs because they couldn't get enough hours at one.
[doublepost=1476724682][/doublepost]

Does anything good ever come from class action suits? Maybe it helps conditions for future employees/customers/etc.

Well, for some yes and for some no, i would think. For example, a poster above you said he worked for Apple and that the 30 minute unpaid break was HARD... that they were required to take it, and were written up if not taken. This hard requirement obviously is due to fear of litigation. But there are many people (myself included) that often would rather not take the break, and make the extra 30 minutes of labor. So for us it hurts. It should be optional in my opinion... but litigation prevents that.

 

[keysofanxiety]

California Labor Code dictates that employees must be provided with at least a 30-minute meal break when the work period is more than five hours, and at least a 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked. The defendants claim Apple failed to always provide these breaks for at least four years prior to the lawsuit.

"Failed to always provide these breaks."

So it could be just one or two days in question, or every single day? By failing to provide breaks, are they saying that their manager told them "no, you're working this lunch break"? Or did the manager just fail to keep on top of time and ensure everybody took the time off that they were supposed to? In the case of the former, that's unacceptable. In the case of the latter, that's completely understandable for anybody who's worked retail.

There's a big difference. I know from experience that lots of employees tend to seethe quietly about this sort of stuff. They don't bring their gripes to the attention of a manager. They just tend to bottle it up, whispering about it to other employees, getting more and more riled up – then boom, they suddenly snap and slap a wad of incriminating evidence on the table.

I'm not taking sides and I'm not opposed to pointing the finger at Apple. I'm very interested to see what facts will be dredged from this lawsuit. But I can't imagine it's as black-and-white as people here are making it out to be. Definitely not.

 

[toph2toast]

Not siding with either group until the facts are known, but do have a question. How can they prove that the breaks didn't happen, or weren't as long as they should have been? Does Apple retail have a clock in/clock out procedure for breaks? If so, are the logs all the way back to 2007 available?

 

[62tele]

I side with Apple. This is one of the reason why US companies move factories to China.

No it's not. Employees deserve to be treated fairly and have a break. You think our citizens deserve to work in such conditions like the sweat shops in China? If so, this would be an example of US workers not being respected or valued. By your logic I suppose it's perfectly fine that top executives now earn, on average 200 to 300 times the average worker. For reference the ratio has gone up from 120-to-1 in 2000, 42-to-1 in 1980 and 20-to-1 in 1950.

Count me on the employee's side.

 

[aitachi]

Former Apple retail employee here. I did two stints with Apple at two different stores in two different cities in two different positions. My experience was the exact opposite of what this suits claim. Managers and Store Leaders not only required us to take our breaks on time they practically hounded us to do so, going so far as to sub employees out with someone else if they were in deep helping a customers and needed to take a break. I'm not saying this suit doesn't have merit; I have no doubt some stores and managers did not follow the law. However, to put this on the level of institutional malfeasance? I don't think so.

 

[DevNull0]

I side with Apple. This is one of the reason why US companies move factories to China.

This is brick and mortar retail which even Apple doesn't have the tech to move to china (yet).

Considering that Apple is moving everything they can overseas and giving the US tax payers the middle finger -- and screwing over the retail workers they would love to replace with cheaper foreign labour if they could figure out how well beyond what is legal, what would possibly make you side with Apple?

You really side with screwing over 100,000 people (the ones who work in retail and the ones who's jobs Apple shipped off-shore) so that Timmy can pat himself on the back with another $5 million bonus?

No wonder the US is in massive decline while China overtakes them.

 

[crescentmoon]

I side with Apple. This is one of the reason why US companies move factories to China.

Apple manufacturing is mostly overseas.... along with 14.5 billion in taxes owed to the US government or European Union. They have over 200 billion outside the US hoping the we will grant a one time tax amnesty to bring it in which I oppose. Can't really blame them though... they do what comes naturally to a company as large as they are. As for their California employees, they cannot ship their jobs overseas so they must abide with the laws of California.

 

[SeattleMoose]

Evil genius looking for fast track to retirement....

 

[The Barron]

Does anything good ever come from class action suits? Maybe it helps conditions for future employees/customers/etc.

I just received a check for $0.04 (yes, 4 cents!) as a settlement for an AT&T class action lawsuit.

The only thing good that results from class action law suits are the lawyers for both sides make a bazillion dollars and the class members get screwed! Boo

 

[gavroche]

No it's not. Employees deserve to be treated fairly and have a break. You think our citizens deserve to work in such conditions like the sweat shops in China? If so, this would be an example of US workers not being respected or valued. By your logic I suppose it's perfectly fine that top executives now earn, on average 200 to 300 times the average worker. For reference the ratio has gone up from 120-to-1 in 2000, 42-to-1 in 1980 and 20-to-1 in 1950.

Count me on the employee's side.

He didn't say companies move to China to avoid giving their employees breaks. He was saying that even when they try to obey every letter of the law, and do everything right, they very often get sued anyway. And it gets packaged into class action lawsuits because they gathered up three complainants. And it ends up costing millions of dollars to defend. And this results in less money to give better pay and benefits to employees. The same ones you are siding with.
If you think this is not a factor that companies take into consideration when choosing a jurisdiction in which to operate a business, you are sadly misinformed.
I chalk your post up to someone with very little information rushing to judgment and not taking the time to even fully read and understand someone to whom you are replying before you categorically tell them they are wrong.

 

[Zman245]

I worked at Apple for 3 years. The management at Apple is amazing above top notch in many cases. Taking breaks and lunches are pressed pretty hard, you have to go or could risk getting into trouble. The only reason lunches and breaks would not have been taken if it was extremely busy but at the stores I worked at we all knew this and if a lunch was severely needed a manger could be told and it would happen.

This lawsuit is either rogue managers or people who just couldn't deal with the demands. As a whole however the company respects its retail empoloyees and treats them pretty well. I began as a part time employee and received tuition reimbursement for a major that wasn't even related to Apple.