“Apple Store employees who sued Apple Inc. over bag searches at the iPhone maker’s 52 brick and mortar outlets in California had their case certified as a class-action by a federal judge on Thursday,” Dan Levine reports for Reuters.
“The ruling, from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, is part of a 2013 lawsuit alleging Apple should compensate thousands of store employees for the time taken to search their bags to ensure they did not steal any merchandise,” Levine reports. “Lawsuits certified as class actions allow plaintiffs to sue as a group and generally give them more leverage to negotiate a settlement. Class members in the bag search case include more than 12,000 current and former employees, the ruling said.”
“Plaintiffs Amanda Frlekin and Dean Pelle alleged that “screenings” or bag searches, designed to discourage theft, are conducted every time sales reps leave the store, including for meal breaks,” Levine reports. “Apple had argued in court filings that the case was not suitable for class action status because not all store managers conducted bag searches, and any searches that did occur took a tiny amount of time which don’t deserve compensation. Alsup ruled that those issues could be litigated at trial.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: On December 9, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark 9-0 decision holding that employees’ time spent waiting for and undergoing security screening after their shifts have ended is not compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
9-0.
More info here.