“A federal judge has ruled that Apple must defend a class-action trial, to begin in January, representing thousands of Apple store workers,” David Kravets writes for Ars Technica. “The employees claim they had to spend as much as 20 minutes off the clock having their bags searched to combat employee theft—known as ‘shrinkage’ — every time they left the premises.”
“Thursday’s decision sets the stage for a rare public glimpse into how Apple treats its retail store workers,” Kravets writes. “Store workers in 2012 e-mailed Apple chief Tim Cook saying the search policy treated employees ‘as criminals.'”
“Alsup’s decision applies to about 12,400 workers in California, which has more employee-friendly work regulations than those of the federal government or other states,” Kravets writes. “Alsup allowed the litigation to continue despite the Supreme Court ruling in 2014 that warehouse workers for Amazon.com in Nevada could be forced to spend as much as 25 minutes off the clock to undergo security screenings at the end of their shift.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And here we thought shrinkage was the result of landing in cold water.
SEE ALSO:
U.S. judge gives go-ahead to class-action lawsuit by Apple retail employees over bag searches – July 16, 2015
Tim Cook received multiple complaints on Apple’s bag check policy – June 11, 2015
Judge dismisses Apple Store employee ‘bag check’ lawsuits following Supreme Court ruling – December 31, 2014
Apple Retail Store employee files class action lawsuit over lost wages due to bag searches – October 12, 2013
Apple retail workers file class action suit claiming lost wages over bag searches – July 29, 2013