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

[Laird Knox]

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

PER WORKER

PER WORKER

PER WORKER /= IN TOTAL

If you only pick out half of the sentence then you are correct. However, if you don't ignore the part about waiting in line...

By your logic at 10-20 minutes per person per search then they would be looking at 16-30 man HOURS to check those 100 employees.

BTW: The all caps and repetition doesn't help your case in the least but go ahead and keep gnashing at a simple internet post.

 

[Lancer]

This is so stupid, I went for a job once and they expected employees to be there before and after their work hours to set up displays, typically I was told this would be about an hour every day, so 5 hours a week of unpaid work. It's not uncommon for emploees to work extra unpaid work... This was a carpet shop so bag searches wouldn't be an issue!

 

[steve62388]

This is so stupid, I went for a job once and they expected employees to be there before and after their work hours to set up displays, typically I was told this would be about an hour every day, so 5 hours a week of unpaid work. It's not uncommon for emploees to work extra unpaid work... This was a carpet shop so bag searches wouldn't be an issue!

Did you take the job though?

It might happen in a lot of places but it doesn't make it right. Employers have been riding employees for too long now, unfortunately because short sighted people have, over the years, allowed the unions to be weakened everybody is worse off. Well... Everybody that can't afford to own shares or those that are not in a position to take advantage of those same employees.

 

[steve62388]

Why wouldn't you think that's the case? What special insight into retail do you have that you believe this not to be true?

Well... They either caught everybody so the figure is known, or they didn't so it's a guess. Otherwise they don't have a clue where the stock disappeared to.

Do you think they caught everyone?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Yes, and the point would be what? That's the weak link. Employees have direct contact with that person and a knowledge of protocols for moving product. I, as a customer, have no access to the back room. It is magnitudes of order more difficult for me to steal an iPad than it would be for an employee to rig the system and steal one.

The point would be there is very limited employee access to the products. There are probably security cameras. If something disappeared it shouldn't be too hard to have a short list of potential subjects. You would have zero chance of stealing an iPad unless you ripped the display model off the table.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

If Apple only employed Christians, then they shouldn’t have anything stolen from them by employees.

In fact, they wouldn't need any security precautions whatsoever for them.

But, diversity! So thieves are welcome at Apple, I guess.

 

[Arkanok]

If Apple only employed Christians, then they shouldn’t have anything stolen from them by employees.

In fact, they wouldn't need any security precautions whatsoever for them.

But, diversity! So thieves are welcome at Apple, I guess.

Right, because all Christians are SOOOOO perfect and have never stolen a thing.

 

[Juicy Box]

This is so stupid, I went for a job once and they expected employees to be there before and after their work hours to set up displays, typically I was told this would be about an hour every day, so 5 hours a week of unpaid work. It's not uncommon for emploees to work extra unpaid work... This was a carpet shop so bag searches wouldn't be an issue!

Was is a salary based position?

While it might be common practice for businesses to expect free labor, it doesn't make it right or legal.

 

[miabadboys]

Bag checks is standard for retail store industry - thats not news. If i was waiting for a store manager while he had to stop and check employees bags, i'd be upset.

 

[2010mini]

What if you want to take your lunch into work? A book maybe? Or anything else for that matter?

Why should I be reprimanded for being 15 minutes late to work, but not demand my share of wages if I leave 15 minutes later then usual every day?

The ladies would get a clear handbag to carry any other things they wanted. Again, this made them breeze by security. No stopping going in our out.

 

[Juicy Box]

Did you take the job though?

It might happen in a lot of places but it doesn't make it right. Employers have been riding employees for too long now, unfortunately because short sighted people have, over the years, allowed the unions to be weakened everybody is worse off. Well... Everybody that can't afford to own shares or those that are not in a position to take advantage of those same employees.

Unionize the Apple employees? Nothing good would come from that.

 

[mattopotamus]

How do you know this? Is this based on who you caught or who you didn't catch? Either way I guess you weren't very good at it then.

Study Risk Management and then work in retail. It

Most retail loss is not due to internal theft, but catching/prosecuting internal theft is usually easier and less litigious to the business then external theft. Many big box stores have their cameras' viewing positions that would only record their employees' activities.

But steve23094, that was kinda nasty and pointless.

Should have said, "most theft". He took that statement pretty hard. Thanks for looking out

 

[SpyderBite]

In CT bag checks were more for the cameras (big brother) aka liability; than they were for looking for merchandise. Open the bag.. The manager pretends to look.. And off we go.

Sounds like a regional thing to me. Nobody was ever fired for stealing at my store or any of the others in our 3 state region.

 

[Allagion]

Amazon won this at the U.S. Supreme Court. There's nowhere else to go. Apparently under the FLSA, only "integral" job functions are compensable, and security checks don't qualify. Here is the Supreme Court's opinion on this. It's 9-0, and pretty short and easy to read.

That said, the FLSA regulation is question mostly seems incoherent, which is why we've got this result:

This article is severely lacking since it omitted a material fact. The employees are suing under California law, not federal. The FLSA isn't implicated, thus Integrity Staffing doesn't apply.

 

[pat500000]

As I said before....THIS IS SO NOT LIKE APPLE.

 

[Allagion]

Man they check my bag every time I go to Disneyland. I'm suing.. They check my bag when go into a court house.. I'm suing...

There are hundreds of companies in this world that do simple bag checks... Don't like it find another job that doesn't do it..

Those examples are non sequiturs. Since you have not stated otherwise, in neither example are you an employee. To Disneyland, you are a customer. Your entry is predicated on paying admission and not bringing in prohibited items, like outside food, drugs, and weapons. Apple employees don't have to pay admission. I'm sure they can't bring drugs or weapons into the store with them, but they are not being searched when they enter. Plus, the search is to find stolen merchandise. Hell, you might have a manager who uses and wants to share your stash. As for the court, it's a secure building that mostly deals in criminal matters. If they didn't search, people would bring weapons into the court. We don't want angry parents of molested children to lovingly shoot the accused in the courtroom. Nor do we want criminals attempting to break their boy out since he's looking at 25 years to life. Both of these scenarios have happened before.

 

[Allagion]

Then a settlement takes place where the lawyers get the most money.

The attorneys filed under the "Private Attorney General Act." Cal. Lab. Code §§ 2698 et seq. It states: "Any employee who prevails in any action shall be entitled to an award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs." Apple pays the plaintiffs' attorneys if they win for actually having to bring the suit to vindicate employee rights. The provision was enacted to ensure employees kept all wrongfully withheld wages.

 

[ozziegn]

I work for a major US retailer and off the clock work is a huge no-no. The managers can't and will not say a word to us unless we are clocked in. No exceptions....

 

[SchlepNT]

This is so stupid, I went for a job once and they expected employees to be there before and after their work hours to set up displays, typically I was told this would be about an hour every day, so 5 hours a week of unpaid work. It's not uncommon for emploees to work extra unpaid work... This was a carpet shop so bag searches wouldn't be an issue!

I don't pretend to know the law in Australia, but in the US, as a non-exempt employee, that is illegal under FLSA.

As mentioned, the same case as this reached the Supreme Court and the employer won under FLSA law. However, that was Nevada and this is California, which is a bit more complicated. FLSA says that employees must be compensated for performing work functions, and the Amazon case it was deemed that a security check was not a work function. In California, the law is written that so long as the employee is still under the control of the employer (ie. not free to leave), they must be compensated.

This is a pretty cut and dry case.

 

[Skoal]

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

Ya employees should leave everything they need during the day at home. Sounds like a good policy DUH!

 

[Skoal]

If Apple only employed Christians, then they shouldn’t have anything stolen from them by employees.

In fact, they wouldn't need any security precautions whatsoever for them.

But, diversity! So thieves are welcome at Apple, I guess.

I'm gonna assume this is sarcasm because if not I may have found the most misinformed post in the history of the Internet!

 

[s3526]

Ex-Apple Store employee here.

Not so much the actual bag checks themselves that took the time, but finding a free manager / security to come and check it for you. You could easily be waiting around for 5 minutes for them to finish up with a customer, especially at busy times.

Also - it's not just the bag you have to have checked (to those people saying "just don't take a bag")
If you had any Apple branded tech on you (personal iPhone, iPod etc) you had to have the serial number of the device checked with a manager against a list they had of devices which were known to be staff-owned.

All of this had to be done after you'd already clocked out - and it did sometimes get annoying; if six of you finish a shift at the same time and are all waiting for a manager (sometimes there was only one on the floor) to finish with a difficult customer, there's 15 minutes right there.

We never had to do it in front of customers though, always behind the staff door at the back of the store, underneath a camera.

 

[Allagion]

The Supreme Court disagrees (by 9-0 no less), and if you think you're better than that, then get a different job. Bye.

The case as it stands now is purely a matter of California law. The Supreme Court case you refer to, Integrity Staffing, interpreted the FLSA, pure federal law. 9-0 means jack in this case.

 

[Allagion]

Does anyone on here with actual legal knowledge or experience know why the judge would have first dismissed this case citing the Supreme Court ruling that would favor Apple but then later allow the case to continue in class action status?

After the Supreme Court decided Integrity Solutions v. Busk, et al., both parties agreed that the decision made cases involving New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts plaintiffs moot. The court dismissed those parties. However, the plaintiffs raised California law that Integrity Solutions did not affect. Federal courts sitting in diversity jurisdiction may adjudicate claims under the forum state's laws. Erie R.R. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1934). So, the case goes forward.

 

[jigzaw]

This should be open and shut. If the job is hourly and the employee has clocked out, making the employee wait anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes for a bag check is a form of coerced imprisonment, especially so a civilian co-worker can search their belongings with no probable cause. I hope Apple pays hard for this and other companies take note. I don't doubt that theft is a problem, but there has to be a better way. I wouldn't have much company loyalty if my boss was peeking in my pockets and laptop bag every time I left work for lunch or home.