Earlier this year, a 2013 lawsuit filed by Apple Store employees went forward, seeking class action status. The workers complained that mandatory searches of their bags before leaving the store premises occurred while they were off the clock, and the searches were “insulting and demeaning.” Over the weekend, the class action was dismissed. The judge’s reasoning: there’s no reason why employees need to bring a bag to work, or their personal Apple devices.
Yes, modern people do tend to bring their mobile phones everywhere with them, and if those people are Apple Store sales staff, they’re unlikely to not use an iPhone. Employees contacted CEO Tim Cook about the policy to complain, but that apparently didn’t go anywhere.
This class action included only current and former Apple Store employees in California, but that still meant 12,000 plaintiffs. The judge turned the question of searches around on employees and instead asked why they need to bring a bag to work in the first place, writing:
Rather than prohibiting employees from bringing bags and personal Apple devices into the store altogether, Apple took a milder approach to theft prevention and offered its employees the option to bring bags and personal Apple devices into a store subject to the condition that such items must be searched when they leave the store.
The plaintiffs didn’t object to the searches, exactly, but did object to the time to perform them being taken out of their breaks and occurring off the clock, and to the inspections happening on the sales floor in front of customers.
Apple Class Action Lawsuit Is Dismissed [Reuters]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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