A federal judge refused to dismiss lawsuits brought by Apple store employees who are seeking wages for the time they spent waiting for managers to perform anti-theft checks of their bags and Apple devices.
In a Friday ruling that offers a rare window into the secretive company's H.R. practices, U.S. District Judge William Alsup rejected Apple's request to throw out the lawsuit and said a trial would be helpful to learn more about the nature of the employee searches.
The ruling comes in response to a series of class actions lawsuits filed last year in which Apple retail employees complained they were not paid for the 10-15 minutes they spent in the security procedures, including waiting in line, whenever they clocked out for lunch or at the end of a shift.
The ruling reveals that Apple managers described the searches as 'Daily Downloads' of the staff, and that two types of searches take place at approximately 250 Apple stores in 44 states: 1) bag searches; 2) 'personal technology checks' in which managers compare the serial numbers of employees' Apple devices to a recorded list.
Apple, which did not immediately reply to a request for comment, has claimed in court filings that its store employees should not be paid for the searches because they are optional. The company says that its approximately 26,000 retail staff are not required to bring bags to work, and that they can avoid the technology checks if they don't use iPhones or other Apple devices.
Judge Alsup, however, writes that avoiding the searches is not as simple as all that:
Related research
Subscriber Content
?Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe. A market analysis of emerging technology interfaces The risks and rewards for the ride-sharing market in 2014 What first-quarter 2014 meant for the mobile space
Like this post? Share it!
Follow @jeffjohnroberts or@gigaom for more stories like this.
Get top stories delivered daily. Subscribe
You're subscribed to our newsletter. If you'd like, you can update your settings
Join the conversation
Advertisement
Related stories Much ado about HomeKit, the new Apple smart home framework
Apple unveiled HomeKit, a smart home play that relies heavily on third-party software and developers. In this...
Stacey Higginbotham Is Apple now allowing bitcoin apps? Tweets highlight change to virtual currency policy
A change to Apple's terms of service suggest a possible thaw in the company's long-standing hostility to...
Jeff John Roberts Apple's HomeKit will help Apple users command their smart home (with limits)
Apple's smart home play is here at last. We still need more details, but the main point...
Stacey Higginbotham
No comments:
Post a Comment