Apple To face Class Action Lawsuit According To Latest Ruling

As much as we Apple, this Apple policy is nothing short of humiliation on a daily basis; Apple retail outlet employees have to undergo back checks daily to ensure that none of the products in the store have been stolen. The policy often holds employees 15 to 20 minutes after hours, causing them to stay sometime after their shifts end, therefore employees would have to stay after their shifts end and yet get no compensation what so ever, according to latest Apple news.

Employees therefore sued the company over the practice, the case was certified as a class action lawsuit on Thursday. The ruling came from William Alsup, US district Judge in San Francisco, it demands that Apple pay its employees for the time spent checking their bags once their shifts end.

Filed back in 2013, the lawsuit struggled to get through and was dismissed in 2014, however thankfully for the affected individuals it came through today, giving it the status of a class action lawsuit. Class action status, therefore means that the 12,000 affected former and current employees can sue as a group and have their demands met or get more power over reaching a settlement.

Filed by Amanda Friekin and Dean Pelle, the plaintiffs claim that the bag checks took up more than employees designated shift, it took up additional time and none of it is considered as overtime. Apparently, the company policy has been put into place to discourage theft, however, it is far from the right approach; treating your employees like a criminal will discourage them in all other aspects of their work but it might not work well to discourage theft.

Employees who have experienced the procedure sent direct emails to the company CEO, Tim Cook, complaining about the matter, back in 2012 one of the emails pointed out the flaws in the policy and how it affects employees negatively. Loyal employees feel like the company has no faith in them what so ever, what’s worse is that the feeling is further magnified by the fact that it is often conducted in front of startled customers.

In the 2012 email to Cook, with a subject line "Fearless Feedback from Apple Retail Specialist," the employee pointed out that Apple's policy suggests the company does not have faith in the employees.

"These procedures are often performed in front of gawking customers," the employee said in the letter, adding that the staff deserve to be treated with the same degree of respect reserved for customers.
Apple rep on the other hand has not commented on the issue, the company has further claimed that the issue is being blown out of proportion; it does into require class action status while it can easily be settled by a trial.