Apple Retail Workers File Class Action Lawsuit Over Wages Lost Due to Bag Searches

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Posted July 29, 2013 at 9:01pm by iClarified

Former Apple retail employees in New York and Los Angeles have filed a class action suit claiming that Apple required them to stand in line up to half an hour each shift and wait for a manager to search their bags, resulting in up to $1,500 of unpaid wages each year per employee.

The suit claims that Apple's anti-theft policy and personal package and bag search can cause employees to wait 15 minutes every time they clock out to leave for a lunch break or at the end of a shift.

Employees .. are required to wait in line and be searched for .. merchandise taken without permission and/or other contraband. [...] A large number of Specialists and Managers leave for lunch at the same time and/or end their shift at the same time. This creates lengthy lines and backups .

The suit was filed by Amanda Frlekin, who worked at Apple's Century City store in LA, and Dean Pelle, who was employed at the Soho location in New York. The lawsuit seeks unspecified amount of damages on behalf of thousands of Apple stores around the country.

Read More via Gigaom

Apple Retail Workers File Class Action Lawsuit Over Wages Lost Due to Bag Searches

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sidewinder - July 31, 2013 at 5:43pm

I used to work at CD World in New Jersey and I used to walk out of that store every day with dozens to hundreds of dollars worth of cds down my pants every shift. Apple is doing the right thing by searching and wrong thing by stealing their employees' time.

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rexology - July 30, 2013 at 4:27pm

Bag checks, especially in high-traffic, high-monetizing companies should be a must. It's a precaution that a Fortune 500 company needs to exercise. Theft and shoplifting is obviously at an all time high due to the booming cellular industry, and I believe it's Apple's best interest to continue the security. Although, maybe creating a zone for bag checks with more lines/bag checkers should be more appropriate to cut line time. I don't often see people complaining about the long lines at airports so for extra security measures at Apple shouldn't be a problem.

brandon - July 30, 2013 at 4:28am

They should be paid for their time, however, employee theft is larger than the average customer coming in. Makes sense but Apple is going over the top.

Simon - July 30, 2013 at 3:41am

I love apple as much as the next fanboy. But if they really are doing the searches off the clock then they deserve this lawsuit.

MacDaddyG - July 30, 2013 at 3:32am

I used to work at an Apple Retail store as well and though our bag checks were a quick glance for maybe a second or two, it did make one feel untrusted and treated more unfairly than the actual crooks who frequented our store. I remember one time an employee spotted a shoplifter hiding an item in his shoe under his pants leg and the only thing our manager could do was talk to him. The perp simply denied everything and walked right out of the store. In fact, the policy is that no store employees can do anything to physically reprimand a suspect or bar him/her from leaving the store, so even if the police were called it was too late. So basically, Apple is one of the easiest stores to shoplift from. . . . except if you are an employee apparently. (Side note, this same manager was later fired for embezzlement and fraud for comping genius bar repairs on broken laptops and phones that his buddies and he bought off of ebay).

Justin - July 30, 2013 at 3:39am

That's pretty disappointing to hear, but yet you are right about the how it's the easiest place to shoplift, not to mention the 3M adhesive with pressure sensors. I used to do VM work a lot and it was surprising. My dad always said to me "it's shoplifters paradise in there" lol. I'm not the one to steal, sadly some people are. I got bullied pretty bad at Apple by someone from management, was the Store Leader, I ended up having to go. Goes to show that jealousy plays a big part if you are welcome or not. :/

Justin - July 30, 2013 at 1:27am

I used to work Apple Retail. This made it feel that you were untrusted, wasnt very nice. Glad to see someone is standing up about this.

snrlvr - July 29, 2013 at 9:18pm

Search all you want, just not off the clock....

Dean Evans - July 29, 2013 at 9:11pm

Boo hoo hoo