Apple to Face Class Action Lawsuit Over Off-the-Clock Employee Bag Checking

[C DM]

Bag checks are like security checks in airports. Useless.

Nothing useful ever came out of any of those?

 

[Kabeyun]

"Apple used a little of my time and gave me and my friends boo boo feelings, so we're going to sue them."

Good lord! Is Stella Liebeck's family working for Apple? Either roll your eyes and grow a pair or take a job at bloody WalMart. The only one scummier is the lawyer.

 

[TonyC28]

This case is almost certainly on contingency, so there's no fee for the lawyers if they lose. There's something else going on here however, as the lawyers wouldn't still be pursuing this case if it was as much a slam dunk as it looks to be.

I'm intrigued now. Especially since the judge dismissed the case citing the Supreme Court ruling but is now allowing it. I wonder what changed.

 

[MH01]

This should be an entertaining thread..... Apologists and haters assemble!!

 

[bushido]

isnt that pretty normal? i worked at a few companies during the summer as a student and they all had random bag checks when u left the premises

edit: nvm apparently i cant read

 

[pellets007]

It's not like they have ten people searching bags at once. It's probably one guy, and if you're the last person in line, that time adds up quickly. This isn't necessarily at 10 second job, as most seem to say. Is it really a big deal to have them clock out afterwards?

 

[Mackinjosh]

Typically these bag checks take about 5 to 10 seconds.

Yeah, and how long does it take to get someone to do the check? That's the problem. Some of these people reported having to wait upwards of 30 minutes to get it done, and all of that is off the clock. It's stupid and they should be compensated for their time.

 

[Juicy Box]

It doesn't take 15 minutes. Here's a novel idea.... Leave the backpack or purse at home. DUH!
No Bag check.

The posts stating it takes 5-15 seconds for management to check a bag is ridiculous. The issues is how long the employee has to wait to get their bag checked after they are off the clock.

Checking bags shouldn't be an issue, but having to wait without being compensated is a problem.

 

[unplugme71]

I had my bag checked in the back room, then clocked out. I guess it depends on your manager.

To the other stores unlike ours, the worst is having a manager help a customer while you are waiting for a bag check.

 

[steve62388]

Typically these bag checks take about 5 to 10 seconds.

Not in the real world, you end up waiting around for your manager to become free and have to wait in line.

 

[sw1tcher]

Over the course of the past two years, Apple has argued that the case should not get class action status because not all managers conducted bag searches and that the bag searches that did happen took so little time that compensation was not necessary.

Ok. Where's Taylor Swift when you need her.

 

[applepuree]

A simple opening of the top of the bag whilst a manager glances (in the back of the store) does not take up more than 10 seconds of time.

Theoretically yes, but it can take a long time to find a manager who isn't tied up with a customer or is on the floor. That can easily take 10 minutes or more, and when that 10 minutes comes from your 30 minutes lunch break as well, its a pain in the backside.

In our store (not usa) we have managed to get bag checks stopped as they are illegal, but it is in my contract that they can do it. Spot checks should be enough if needed at all. Apple doesn't check customers bags and we are not allowed to challenge a customer who we suspect hasn't paid either!

 

[Juicy Box]

we're expected to work hours longer than the 8 hour day where i work and no one here gets compensated extra for it. i was under the impression that salaried employees don't get paid overtime. 10 to 15 minutes extra a day is the most trivial thing comparatively when we regularly push 9-11 hours daily

Are you comparing hourly wage to salary? I think the article is talking about the hourly wage employees and not the salary employees.

I think each state is different but in Maryland, employers are not required to pay over time to salary employees. Other states are probably similar.

 

[Mums]

The Amazon employees got nowhere with this, I doubt this will hold up. Also, demeaning? I've worked at places that do this. I highly doubt it waster than a simple check.

That's a horrible comment. We live in an age of ZERO trust, and you support it?

 

[superberg]

It looks like you quoted a corroborating source yourself.

10 to 20 minutes is 600 to 1200 seconds. With 100 employees that comes out to 6-12 seconds per check.

It says right there in bold 10-20 minutes PER WORKER.

PER WORKER

PER WORKER

PER WORKER /= IN TOTAL

 

[steve62388]

I'm sorry but if you are going to bring your personal bags containing personal items to your work as a privilege from your employer and expecting your employer to not check your bag for lose prevention is absurd. You, as an employee, are causing an interruption of business by bringing in personal items to work. Therefore you should not be compensated for the time it takes the employer to protect it's merchandise and information. The majority of theft in most businesses is internal. It has been proven time and time again. And if it's taking 10-15 minutes each day then you really need to not bring your carry on luggage to work each day!

Whilst you may consider my point facetious it's important to consider it, that's how the law works. What happens if you need to carry medication in your bag?

BTW... how do you know most theft is internal? It would occur to me if theft is not caught then nobody knows where it went. Sometimes things just disappear due to poor stock control. That's why it's called 'shrinkage'.

Oh... and one more BTW. It's an easy 10-15 minutes whilst you wait for your manager to become free as they are finishing on the phone, with a customer, a last minute report, an important email or that final level of Candy Crush. You then have to wait in line.

 

[Treq]

Typically these bag checks take about 5 to 10 seconds.

It's not the few seconds for the bag check that is in question. It's the 10-15 minutes they have to wait for the manager to perform the check. That time adds up. A simple solution to this problem is to have the employees punch out after the check has been performed.

 

[steve62388]

It looks like you quoted a corroborating source yourself.

10 to 20 minutes is 600 to 1200 seconds. With 100 employees that comes out to 6-12 seconds per check.

Ouch. Bad maths fail.

 

[Zxxv]

If they win and I as a customer get checked can I get paid for my time?

Aren't apple just checking them as citizens and not as employees? Hence the check is on their time like they'd check you or me?

Isn't that the argument?

 

[thefunmachine69]

Here is a little scenario of what could happen. Because we definitely don't live in a perfect world. Let's say it's time for Joe Blow to get off. He clocks out heads to his manage so he can have his bag checked. But that manager is busy dealing with a customer that isn't happy his iPhone 6 stopped working. So the manager is stuck with said customer for 15 to 20 minutes trying to resolve the matter. That's 15 to 20 minutes that Joe Blow should get paid for.

 

[superberg]

Ouch. Bad maths fail.

My math didn't fail. Someone else's reading comprehension did.

 

[Saucesome2000]

That's a horrible comment. We live in an age of ZERO trust, and you support it?

That's a horrible comment. We live in an age where employees steal from companies all the time, and you support it? Sorry, I don't respect thieves.

 

[Saucesome2000]

From http://blogs.findlaw.com/free_enterprise/2013/10/amazon-sued-over-employee-security-checks.html:

"In the Amazon lawsuit, the class action plaintiffs allege they were never compensated during the bag searches or while waiting in line for the screenings (in a sea of about 100 employees), adding up to 10 to 20 minutes of uncompensated time per worker, according to WCAU-TV."

Source for your five-to-ten-seconds?

You just quoted the Amazon case in which it was the security lines they had to go to at the warehouses when hundreds of employees are showing up to work at the same time. These are retail stores and nowhere near the same amount of time.

 

[Number 41]

That's a horrible comment. We live in an age of ZERO trust, and you support it?

It's an era of "Zero Trust" because employee theft is a documented drain on retail profit, and those losses get passed directly onto us consumers. If so many people out there weren't ripping off their employers blind, there wouldn't be a need to do any of this.

 

[ZCP]

I also worked in retail, and the bag check is the last thing that occurs on an employee's way out of the store. After they have clocked out. So that way they can't go and load something into their bag as they are clocking out or milling around.

Sometimes it took 30 seconds, sometime it took a few minutes. I never had a complaint. You work retail...