It seems Apple Stores are becoming the retail version of airport security lines for employees. At least that’s the allegation of a San Francisco Apple Store worker who has filed a class action lawsuit against the iPhone maker. The lawsuit claims employees are not being compensated for security checks lasting as long as 30 minutes per day.
Each day, employees must wait in line for these security checks before leaving for meal breaks and when they end their shifts after they’ve clocked out of work, according to the lawsuit which is also filed on behalf of all nonexempt hourly workers. The lawsuit by Apple employee Taylor Kalin asks for lost wages for all employees, as well as penalties for violating labor laws…
PatentlyApple explains:
Plaintiff and other Hourly Employees were and are required to wait in line for security checks for at least 10-15 minutes each day before leaving for their meal breaks and at the end of their shift after they had already clocked out.
This daily 10-15 minute uncompensated waiting time during security checks was done in order to undergo searches for possible contraband and/or pilferage of inventory.
Although this is a class-action lawsuit, two other San Francisco Apple Store employees recently sued Apple for the unpaid time required to undergo security checks. It’s not clear how far this class-action claim would reach Apple’s total retail workforce of 42,000.
Apple’s Tim Cook was criticized for going down market to tap John Browett, the head of Dixons, as Ron Johnson’s replacement as the head of retail. Browett lasted only nine months on the job, during which time he agitated Apple’s retail army over tweaked schedules and cost cutting measures which led to a decrease in customer satisfaction.
Apple then went up market and announced on Tuesday that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will be joining the company as SVP of Retail and Online Stores in Spring 2014.
Tim Cook wrote in a memo to employees that she is “the best person in the world for this role.” The memo goes on to acknowledge that Cook met Angela back in January and praised her focus on technology and customer experience, a keystone of the Apple Store success story.