Apple has agreed to pay $29.9 million to employees at its retail stores who were coerced to submit to security bag checks. This practice was unpaid, and this happened when they left work after their shifts and during as well.
The workers’ lawyers requested the federal judge on Friday to approve the settlement, which was agreed upon after a protracted eight-year legal battle.
The lawsuit was filed against the company in 2013 by the employees. They stated that this practice was equivalent to Apple disregarding the law of California by not paying them for the time it took to check their bags.
The company argued that the checking of bags was an important step in the protocol as they had to make sure that none of the company’s items were being stolen. The company further went on to say that if the employees had an issue with this policy, they could have stopped bringing their bags to work.
The lawsuit only covered workers at California’s 52 Apple stores. This group has 14,683 workers; each will get $1,286 from the settlement, the lawyers said in the court filing.
This seems like an unnecessary practice and has cost the company a lot. It is basic logic to pay employees for the time they are giving to your company. It is surprising how the company had to go through a lawsuit to understand this. Furthermore, the practice itself is immoral and unethical.
Apple should apologize along with paying the settlement money to the employees. In the meanwhile, they must develop efficient bag checking policies to save employees’ productive time.