Apple launches webpage detailing $30M bag-and-technology search lawsuit settlement

AppleInsider

A new webpage provided by Apple offers details about the $30 million that will be paid out to employees subjected to routine, off-the-clock searches before leaving work.

In November, Apple agreed to pay $29.9 million in a settlement to Apple employees who routinely had their bags and devices searched off-the-clock before going home.

Now, Apple has provided a webpage that details the class action settlement, titled "Apple Bag Check Class Action Settlement." The site includes documentation available to California employees subjected to bag checks from July 25, 2009, to August 10, 2015.

The lawsuit originated in 2013, when a class of employees sued Apple, arguing that they should be paid for the time spent undergoing security checks of their bags and devices.

The case went through both the Ninth Circuit, as well as the California Supreme Court. Both ruled that Apple should be on the hook financially for the time spent during the mandatory searches.

In California, employees in the class of nearly 12,000 current and former Apple Store staffers stand to receive a maximum payment of about $1,200.

Read on AppleInsider

red oak

What a bunch of Snowflakes.  Capital ‘S’

jimh2

There are other jobs where post work searches are as routine as they need to be. If you do not like a procedure a company has or implements after you start working then quit. 

bsnjon

It is very simple. If you are at your workplace, and your boss tells you to do something, you are at work and must be paid. What other possible solution is there?

gamergeek87

jimh2 said:

There are other jobs where post work searches are as routine as they need to be. If you do not like a procedure a company has or implements after you start working then quit. 

This is not about procedures after they've started working. It's about procedures that occur when they are not working. Working for a company does not mean they get to take your time without compensation.

georgebmac

This whole entire episode from start to finish showed a disrespect for their employees.

I would expect this from a Walmart or a meat packer employing helpless immigrants with no recourse.  I did not expect it from Apple.

But, early on Steve made a clear distinction between "A Players" and "B Players".   I guess these retail store clerks are the very disposable "B Players".

fred1

12,000 employees get a maximum of $1,200 each? That’s only $14,400,000, maximum. A few thousand for court fees and the rest goes to the lawyers. Sweet!

crowley

bsnjon said:

It is very simple. If you are at your workplace, and your boss tells you to do something, you are at work and must be paid. What other possible solution is there?

You are employed to do a job, not to do whatever your boss tells you to do.  And a thing called employment law exists to protect employees from employers taking advantage.

It is not so simple, for very good reason.


Besides which, the employees were having to give up their own time for these bag searches.  They weren't getting paid for their time.  That's the entire crux of the problem that you, with your "simple" view, appear to have missed.

edited January 2022

carnegie

fred1 said:

12,000 employees get a maximum of $1,200 each? That’s only $14,400,000, maximum. A few thousand for court fees and the rest goes to the lawyers. Sweet!

The total of class members is over 14,000 and the average, not maximum, payout per member is close to $1,300. There are also settlement administration costs (nearly $100k) and part of the settlement (around $300k) goes to California (because of the Private Attorneys General Act aspect of the case). So the attorneys are getting around a third of the total settlement.

georgebmac

fred1 said:

12,000 employees get a maximum of $1,200 each? That’s only $14,400,000, maximum. A few thousand for court fees and the rest goes to the lawyers. Sweet!

$14.4M?

That's less than 15% of what Tim Cook made last year.   Sounds pretty fair to me!   (/s)

(And no, that wasn't a slam at Tim -- I don't begrudge anybody making money honestly.  But, come on!)

badmonk

Even as an Apple FanBoy I think Apple should have just done the right thing from the beginning, it would have been cheaper and the right thing to do.