Apple hit with class action lawsuit over alleged labor violations, more than 20K plaintiffs involved

Posted:
in General Discussion edited July 2014
A lawsuit being leveled against Apple was granted class certification on Monday, alleging the company's treatment of Apple Store and corporate operations employees constitute multiple California Labor Code violations.

Apple Store Staff


Apple was first accused of violating California's labor laws in 2011 by four employees who claim the company did not provide adequate break time, meal time and paychecks on a timely basis, reports TechCrunch.

Most recently, plaintiffs were granted class status, meaning the scope of the case widened substantially and now includes more than 20,000 current and former employees. Lawyers estimated the class to contain about 18,000 member, but attorney for the plaintiffs Tyler Belong said, "The class size continued to grow as the case continued on and time passed due to employee turn over. It is now over 20,000."

The publication obtained a statement from Belong, who summarized the case:
The lawsuit was filed by Brandon Felczer and several other retail and corporate Apple employees (the "Plaintiffs") beginning in December 2011. The Plaintiffs sought to represent themselves and all other similarly situated Apple employees in California who were not provided timely meal breaks, timely rest breaks, and timely final paychecks according to California's Labor Code and Wage Orders. Just yesterday, after years of litigation, against Apple's opposition, and after voluminous briefing and lengthy oral argument, the California Superior Court granted Plaintiffs' motion and certified the case as a class action, appointing Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs' counsel (Hogue & Belong) as the class representatives and class counsel on behalf of approximately 20,000 Apple employees. In other words, as of yesterday's ruling, Apple now faces claims of meal period, rest period and final pay violations affecting approximately 20,000 current and former Apple employees.
The class is still deciding on remedial monetary demands, though counsel is asking for damages and restitution of all monies due to plaintiffs from unlawful business practices as pursuant to ten California Labor Code sections. As usual, interest accrued and applicable attorneys' fees are also being sought. Apple has yet to make a statement on the matter.

Embedded below is a copy of the most recent amended complaint, which was filed in October of last year.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 55
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Fer chrissakes...
  • Reply 2 of 55
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    "Timely last pay checks". LOL. What, it took an extra two weeks to process your last f****** paycheck?
  • Reply 3 of 55

    More "than" 20K plaintiffs....

  • Reply 4 of 55
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    "As usual, interest accrued and applicable attorneys' fees are also being sought."

    Of course the lawyers will get a bunch more than the employees. None of the issues seem to be over what they got paid, only how quickly. As for breaks, how do you put a dollar figure on these? 20K employees, some of which sound like they no longer work at an Apple Store (final paychecks), doesn't sound like a lot of money but when you factor in the lawyers costs, it will be huge.
  • Reply 5 of 55
    Must have made them work for more than half an hour without a two hour break.
  • Reply 6 of 55
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    20k is a lot. Is it most of them.
  • Reply 7 of 55
    frxntierfrxntier Posts: 97member
    MORE THEN
  • Reply 8 of 55
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by WoodWorks View Post

    Geez. Does anyone on the Internet make it past sixth grade?


     

    That’s what they teach in 6th grade now? Geez, things have gone downhill.

  • Reply 9 of 55
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member

    Personally, I'm glad to live in a state, and, less markedly, a country, that tries to protect the humanity of workers.

    But, I'd be pretty surprised to find that a particularly large fraction of Apple's people felt taken advantage of,

    or wanted to actively join the class…or that it will be proven that there was willful disregard on Apple's part.

    So many of the things they do, here and abroad, including in places they don't strictly have to,

    show a very active concern for their people, so, even given the difficulties

    inherent in running extremely busy - even chaotic - retail establishments, this just seems out of character for Apple,

    and I'll be interested to see what kind of legs - if any - this actually has.

  • Reply 10 of 55
    john12345john12345 Posts: 152member

    Oh my GOD.   They had to work 5 straight hours without a meal break.   Oh the humanity!

  • Reply 11 of 55
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by john12345 View Post

    Oh my GOD.   They had to work 5 straight hours without a meal break.   Oh the humanity!



    California, huh. Sure it’s not France?

     

    “Thanks, Jay Leno.”

  • Reply 12 of 55
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    john12345 wrote: »
    Oh my GOD.   They had to work 5 straight hours without a meal break.   Oh the humanity!

    Most if not all state labor laws require a meal break after 4 hours.
  • Reply 13 of 55
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Most if not all state labor laws require a meal break after 4 hours.

    Delaware requires at least 30 minutes but break must be after first 2 hours and before last 2 hours fora. 8 hour day
    Quite reasonable
  • Reply 14 of 55
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Where are those Foxbots we were promised? Time to start replacing store employees.

  • Reply 15 of 55
    Been working for Apple Retail for almost 8 years now, not once had a problem with getting meal breaks. Anytime I was late getting my break was due to me not managing my time.
  • Reply 16 of 55
    inteliusqinteliusq Posts: 111member

    image

  • Reply 17 of 55
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    frxntier wrote: »
    MORE THEN

    The correct usage is "more than", not "more then", unless you want to say something like "more people liked Apple products in the 80's, more then than now" (and that's pushing it!).

    As for the suit, do you want to work without breaks?

    I don't know whose right, but I have faith in the justice system. (Sorry, couldn't write that without stopping to laugh!)
  • Reply 18 of 55
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Fred1 View Post





    The correct usage is "more than", not "more then", unless you want to say something like "more people liked Apple products in the 80's, more then than now" (and that's pushing it!).



    As for the suit, do you want to work without breaks?



    I don't know whose right, but I have faith in the justice system. (Sorry, couldn't write that without stopping to laugh!)

    Well, if we're going to get all pedantic here, the correct usage is: "I don't know who's right...," not "whose." Who's is a contraction of "who is," "whose" implies ownership.

  • Reply 19 of 55
    woodworks wrote: »
    More "than" 20K plaintiffs....

    Geez. Does anyone on the Internet make it past sixth grade?
    "More than" is correct, is it not? "More then" would be a comment on a timeframe, I believe.
  • Reply 20 of 55
    woodworks wrote: »
    Well, if we're going to get all pedantic here, the correct usage is: "I don't know who's right...," not "whose." Who's is a contraction of "who is," "whose" implies ownership.
    Lol, you were writing this as I was finishing up mine and didn't see this until I pushed the "reply" button. As a sidenote, I sometimes wonder how many spelling or grammar errors posted on the internet are due to autocorrect?
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