“IT workers at Apple are subject to conditions resembling indentured servitude and, in violation of California state law, are denied required overtime pay and meal benefits, a lawsuit filed Monday against the computer maker alleges,” Paul McDougall reports for InformationWeek.
“David Walsh, who worked as a network engineer at Apple from 1995 until last year, was routinely forced to work more than 40 hours per week, missed meals, and often had to spend evenings and entire weekends on call without receiving an extra dollar of pay, according to the suit,” McDougall reports.
“Walsh’s attorneys contend that he, and other Apple IT workers, were purposefully misclassified as management by the company so it could avoid paying them overtime rates that California legally requires for nonmanagement personnel and also to avoid lawsuits,” McDougall reports.
“The attorneys are asking the judge to grant class status to all of Apple’s California IT workers, including those who are dispatched to perform support functions at Apple retail stores,” McDougall reports. “If successful, the suit could cost Apple big bucks. IBM was forced to shell out $65 million in 2006 to settle a similar case brought on behalf of 32,000 tech workers at the company.”
More in the full article here.
Just give em some stock.
People are too soft in general nowadays.
ha $65 million apple could give up $650 million and be fine
Well hey, these people knew the crack when they accepted their contracts. I agree, people should get what they are due but if you agree to be salaried in the first place there’s no point locking the stable door after the horse has bolted!!!
I’ve been both waged and salaried before and salaries have always been reasonably larger to make up for the lack of overtime.
I would also suggest that Apple give stock (or a profit share scheme) to staff who don’t get paid overtime. And that they pay dividends as well. It makes sense.
If Apple has done by their workers, than I hope they lose the lawsuit. I expect better than this from Apple.
done [wrong] by their workers…
I never understood these sorts of things. If it was so horrible, why didn’t the guy quit? It must not have been that bad if the guy stuck around for 12 years.
It must have been tough putting up with “indentured servitude” for 12 years. Come on now. 12 years really, then he remembered he could…,what’s that phrase,…oh yea, QUIT. 12 years. Meal benefits? What? They didn’t let him eat? Yikes!
I thinking he got canned and is disgruntled. It’s the 1995 to last year part I’m wondering about.
Speaking as someone who has been in the same boat as these employees and also as an Apple fan, I have to say that I hope these employees take the company to the cleaners.
A company earning as much as Apple does and which also profits in a big way from the workers dedication and efforts (wow, you mean Steve Jobs isn’t the sole excuse for a multi-million yearly turn over?) has no excuse for treating people in such a shitty manner.
I repeat: NO EXCUSE
If it is true, Apple should pay. The court is the one to decide. That’s why we have courts.
Yep, this sounds like my IT job too. So what’s the news here?
Quote: “David Walsh, who worked as a network engineer at Apple from 1995 until last year, was routinely forced to work more than 40 hours per week, missed meals, and often had to spend evenings and entire weekends on call without receiving an extra dollar of pay, according to the suit,” McDougall reports.”
IT’s are usually on Salary, not hourly pay, so no you wouldn’t get extra. And there are always stretches that you spend more than 40 hours. I’ve put in 70+ in certain critical weeks working until 1 a.m. and weekends too.
I bet I make a hell of a lot less yearly salary pay than an Apple employee!
P.S. And I can’t tell you how many lunches I’ve gone without while solving the latest crisis.
I worked for a company which did the same thing – classify certain workers as management to get around the law in California. Most companies do it. I was one of those guys. I stuck with it and then became ‘real management’, and then carried on. Do to others as they do to you.
In my next life I’ll know better. Maybe!
Pastrychef and British Mac Head:
The reason that the employees have a case is that the US gov’t has laws regarding this, just like they do with minimum wage, sexual harassment, etc. You can’t skirt the laws by having someone sign a contract, or by saying “they knew going into this what would happen.” You also can’t use the old “if they don’t like it, they should quit” line. It would be very similar to a boss groping an employee then telling her, “If you don’t like it, just quit.” Illegal. I think the workers have a case.
@ Dirty Pierre le Punk
Just because the company makes lots of money, does not mean that they owe employees any more than their agreed upon salaries and wages. When the company was losing money, did the employees take money out of their pockets and put it in Apple’s bank account?
I know some of these Apple IT folks and the lawsuit description isn’t too far from the truth. These people work like slaves and should be compensated accordingly. Without them, the Apple Stores wouldn’t operate so smoothly.
is that companies are finding that they will be required to pay. Free enterprise devolves into Feudalism (“indentured servitude”) without proper government oversight.
Main point here is that we have a 40 hour legal work week in this country. Like it or not, that’s the current law of the land.
Salaried folks do not get paid overtime, it’s true but there are two key issues here and IBM just lost a big time lawsuit over the second one and it’s only a matter of time until it, or another, major IT company loses on the second.
1) While your salaried employees may well put in overtime, a company cannot, as a condition of employment, require consistent hours in excess of 40.
2) An organization cannot use titles or grades to create exempt and non-exempt employees. It the situation cited, if both the exempt and non-exempt employees were doing the same work, regardless of title, then both are due overtime, and Apple will surely lose. The IBM precedent is set.
It terms of meal allowances, my assumption is that this is related to the overtime. When working overtime, many organizations provide a meal allowance because if the employee were not working they would have the option to prepare a less expensive meal at home. This is also the reason why most companies do not provide a lunch allowance because most people have an expectation of going out for lunch or bringing something from home. I don’t think this is a legislative issue tho…more a policy.
All that said…this is a silly issue for Apple to take a stand. Google, for example, provides gourmet quality organic food for its employees AND their families when they are working late.
Finally, if someone is on call with a pager, it’s simply ridiculous to not compensate during that time. If those are really the facts, Apple will lose on that issue as well.
Oh come on Pierre & macnut. We’ve all had shitty jobs before. This gut wasn’t there for 2 years he was there for 12. He must have been happy with his salary at the time or as the chef and Shiva said, he would have quit.
It’s typically a case of a disgruntled ex-employee finding out later he may have had opportunity to get these things if he wasn’t a manager. However as the article says, he WAS a manager. I bet he was very happy with that title at the time. I bet he showed it off to all his friends. Just because some greedy assed lawyer told him he might be able to argue the manager status thing doesn’t mean it was right to do so.
OK, for those who haven’t done this for a while and forgotten the process, here’s how you get a job:
A position is advertised and so are it’s benefits.
That position will say IT Manager in his case, Salary $xxxx, benefits xxxx etc.
You apply for that position.
You get shortlisted and contacted for an interview.
You go to the interview where you have every opportunity to ask about the salary and what other benefits may be on offer.
You get a call offering you that position.
Your agree and your CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT is drawn up.
Where in this process does it state that when you leave you can argue that you weren’t really a manager and ask for settlement for your overtime.
It’s bollocks. Employers have rights as well as employees. That’s where contracts come in.
I am sure this guy had plenty of opportunity to apply for a demotion to “wage earner”. But it would have no doubt incurred a lesser basic.
You can’t have your cake and eat it!!!
Apple deserves to win in this case.
I am speaking as an employer that had an asshole working for him who tried to move the goal posts after I sacked him for being a lazy bastard and nearly killing my company.
If Apple were such a crap company to work for you would hear this sort of stuff every week!
pastrychef,
The company pulled a fast one – they re-classified people so they could rip them off. I have no problems with companies expecting hard work and commitment from their workers but when they do get it, why should they have to go and pull shitty tricks like re-classification?
That’s what winds me up.
And in Apple’s case, when the company was losing money (due to bad management) the employees can’t be held responsible.
Salaried management personnel enjoy perks that wage employees do not, such as a higher pay scale, better benefit options and more options for taking time off instead of pay. If you fail to expense your meals, etc, within the guidelines than it is your own fault. But if Apple is operating outside the government standards then they should be accountable.
this happens in every industry and every business… and is one of the reasons why labor unions were formed many moons ago. Then we went through a period where unions fell from favor… now perhaps they will surge again.
No one looks out for number one. you have to look out for number one… or you will get abused. At a certain point I would expect the employee to discuss things with management. If the employee does not, management will continue to squeeze as much productivity from the employee as possible for the least amount of pay and compensation.
Some people are just big babies and jerks.
Countersue him.
Apple better pay up!! I work in for a company who actually pays me overtime now and it feels way better than my last company who didn’t pay me overtime, and I’m A.C.S.A. So I recognize the hard work these people are doing.
In New York (like Cali) by law you are required to be paid overtime after you work more than 40 hours unless you are management, I.T. isn’t so I hope apple loses this case and I still love Apple but you can’t treat your workers like that.
Boo Hoo.
They signed on and should live up to their contracts. I worked in the financial industry where we worked 60+ hours a week for a straight salary. You just know what you have to do for the job.