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Apple must pay store employees for bag-search time, court rules
Apple must pay its retail store employees for the time they spend waiting for mandatory bag searches at the end of their shifts, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The decision is retroactive, but it wasn't immediately clear how much Apple would have to pay.
The decision stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 2013 by two former workers from Apple stores in New York and Los Angeles that claimed employees at physical locations were required to stand in lines up to 30 minutes long every day for store managers to check their bags to ensure they weren't smuggling home stolen goods. Failure to comply can lead to the employee's termination.
"Under the circumstances of this case and the realities of ordinary, 21st century life, we find farfetched and untenable Apple's claim that its bag-search policy can be justified as providing a benefit to its employees," Supreme Court Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in the decision (PDF).
[...] "Given that Apple requires its employees to wear Apple-branded apparel while working but directs them to remove or cover up such attire while outside the Apple store, it is reasonable to assume that some employees will carry their work uniform or a change of clothes in a bag in order to comply with Apple's compulsory dress code policy," she wrote.
[...] "Apple may tailor its bag-search policy as narrowly or broadly as it desires and may minimize the time required for exit searches," Cantil-Sakauye wrote. "But it must compensate those employees to whom the policy applies for the time spent waiting for and undergoing these searches."
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 15 2020, @07:23AM (2 children)
That, definitely ^ !
Few times in my life has anyone searched my belongings, and more than half of those were during my Navy days. (Seabag inspection - if you're missing a pair of socks, or a windbreaker, you have to replace it in short order.) Quite simply, no one has the authority to go poking through your stuff, to see if there's anything they want.
Wal-Mart has set itself up for a world of hurt, by inspecting shopper's bags at the exit. The bags contain your personal property, not store merchandise. The inspector won't allow you to exit the store, unless you permit him/her to search your stuff? That is kidnapping. Call the law immediately, and inform them that you have been kidnapped, and that you are not free to leave. Wal-Mart are just as big assholes as Apple.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 15 2020, @06:08PM (1 child)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 17 2020, @05:49PM
You're on private property and it is a private company. Just what "statutory rights" do you think you have? (Hint: It ain't the 4th amendment, that does not apply to a private business.) They can't strip search you or lay hands on your person, but they have every right to search your possessions or forbid you from entering the property again (doubly so when they tell you in advance and you have the option to not enter the property in the first place).
This sig for rent.