Apple Store employees could receive monetary settlement in bag search lawsuit
In a class action lawsuit that has seemed to go on forever, a court has finally given provisional approval to settle a dispute over unpaid time for bag searches. Retail staff have long complained about having to wait an extra 10-15 minutes after their shifts had ended to comply with bag searches and checks of their personal devices.
This isn’t the first class action lawsuit by employees to try and remedy the unpaid time. The first and the second failed with a judge ruling on one of them that staff could choose not to bring bags and personal devices to work. Soon after though, the California Supreme Court reversed this decision stating that Apple’s own marketing described the iPhone as an ‘integrated and integral’ part of the lives of customer’s lives, and therefore is unrealistic for staff to leave their own at home.
Apple ended its bag-check policy for employees December 2015, with Tim Cook even asking executive staff “Is this true?” when retail staff complained directly to him. The Cupertino tech company has since offered to pay workers $30M (around $1,200/employee) to settle the case. This settlement is estimated to compensate 14,683 current and former employees who worked at 52 California Apple Stores from July 2009 to December 2015.