Apple Retailer Facing Class Action Suit Over Employee Bag Checks 353
aitikin writes "Former Apple employees say the company requires workers to stand around without pay for up to 30 minutes a day while waiting for managers to search their bags for stolen merchandise."
The filing. It looks pretty illegal: mandatory unpaid checks of personal belongings before and after work and all breaks.
The incredible irony of.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:4, Insightful)
The Apple Store wages are plenty to buy a lot of products they sell. Not everything, but I doubt that 90% of electronics store employees could buy the most expensive 20% of the products on sale either. That's besides the point because retail theft isn't about "oh, I can't afford this and want to own it" anyway. It's about "oh, I can resell this and supplement my income quite handsomely". Most of the stuff people shoplift from supermarkets (staff or customers) isn't stuff that's very overall expensive, but stuff that's easy to steal and fences well like batteries and razors. High value per unit volume, lots of volume available, fungible.
Apple basically has no reason to be doing these checks because there's nothing about their employees or product that makes it any more likely to be stolen than anywhere else. They hardly keep anything out on the shopfloor for deus' sake.
Re:I have no sympathy (Score:5, Insightful)
I would imagine that aiurplane pilots are not paid by the hour, which these guys are.
Re:I have no sympathy (Score:5, Insightful)
Hi,
Hmm, I believe airline pilots are a little bit different to other hourly employees.
They're paid for time "in-flight" - which is why you probably don't get paid for say, the TSA security checks. However, apparently there's a minimum base amount they're paid, even if they sit around doing nothing.
So we're not exactly comparing apples to apples here (that, and I suspect pilot salaries probably aren't exactly the same as retail employee salaries).
Last time I heard, airline attendants were the same (http://mentalfloss.com/article/31044/10-shocking-secrets-flight-attendants).
Cheers,
Victor
Re:Typical (Score:5, Insightful)
2/3rds of loss in retail is from employee theft. At a place like Apple outlets, where the products are small, expensive, and easily turned over for cash to friends or pawn shops, I'd imagine it's even higher. Not that this fact excuses forcing unpaid overtime on your workers, but I'm not surprised they're doing bag checks.
The bag check isn't the problem.
Employers reserve that right even in countries with real employer protection. What isn't Kosher is the fact they have to do it unpaid. If an employer wants to screen you on your way out that time must be paid for by the employer.
Same for when an employee takes a break. In retail environments your breaks are timed (I've even heard they are even unpaid in the US), so a screening should not be permitted to detract from that time.
I work in a secure facility, I clock on from the first the moment I enter the building. Even if it takes me 5 minutes to get to my desk. Then again I work in a country that punishes employers for taking advantage of employees.
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference is, the people in government are supposed to be our employees, not us theirs, so it's even worse.
Re:Why don't they just ban the bags? (Score:5, Insightful)
Depending on where the Apple store is relative to your home/other jobs/schooling, employees might not relish the thought of going all the way to work and back every day with nothing but the contents of their pockets and wearing their work outfit.
They don't need to ban bringing the bag to work, just ban bringing it into the inventory control area. They could provide a locker room where people can lock up their bag before their shift, outside the inventory control point (the place where they were inspecting the bags). This is common practice at plenty of retailers, warehouses, and manufacturers. Try this: Go to Walmart and walk around. Okay, now how many employees do you see walking around the store with backpacks, purses etc? Answer: zero. They are in the locker room.
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that this is only at two stores, I would bet heavily that this is two managers' policy, not Apple's. Certainly at previous crappy jobs (not at apple) I've met managers that have thought it was entirely okay to try and make you turn up half an hour early for things like team briefs and bag searches. The head office HR department had a shit fit, and said it was nothing to do with the company when I phoned up and suggested that that violated minimum wage law.
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:5, Insightful)
you are 100% right about Ford, but for better or worse the world is different now in many ways
Corporations now expect a profit margin so large, the only way to make it happens is to produce their products in low income countries... very VERY sad.
Re:I have no sympathy (Score:5, Insightful)
That is like saying "I'm a whiny gutless arse hole" because "I'm a whiny gutless arse hole" every one deserves to be like "whiny gutless arse holes". Sorry pal that's now how it works in a fair society. If an employer makes demands upon your time, you deserve to be fairly compensated for it.
I have sympathy for anyone who gets ripped off by their employer or in any way abused. It's pretty lame to be a cowardly victim and then thinks it fair for every one to get abused that way. Gee's dude I also hope they grope your genitals, radiate you arse and probe you upon a regular basis because it sounds like they should as for the rest of humanity any employer that treats it's employees like that deserves to be run out of business by vengeful unions.
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I've no idea why this urban legend continues to flourish when it's so clearly retarded. If he'd paid them more so they could afford his cars, they were at least as likely to spend the money with a competitor
Highly unlikely, a few years back I was doing some work for Volvo and in the parking lot there was a rather overwhelming share of Volvos. Sure, nobody expects you to sell or scrap an existing car that works well but somehow I don't think a Ford worker arriving in a new non-Ford car would get very well received by neither coworkers nor management, it's a pretty clear message you wouldn't want to eat your own dog food. That they could use the money for other things sure, but if they bought a car I'd say it was a very safe bet it'd be a Ford.
Re:You're wrong on all counts. (Score:2, Insightful)
I was an hourly employee and I had to go through security before starting my shift. This was unpaid and there were often queues. It was the same for all the staff working airside who were paid by the hour.
Re:I have no sympathy (Score:3, Insightful)
No sympathy huh? How sociopathic of you. Just because you have a shitty job, it doesn't justify bringing everyone else down to your level.
This is why the USA is so fucked up right now. Whenever someone else has a job with better pay and better working conditions, instead of demanding that your pay and working conditions improve, people with your mindset complain that the other guy is lazy, overpaid and undeserving of better treatment. Your attitude is part of the problem, not the solution.
Re:You're wrong on all counts. (Score:5, Insightful)
Former airport McDonalds worker here. Your post, and most of the posts replying to this guy amuse me a lot. I was an hourly employee and I had to go through security before starting my shift. This was unpaid and there were often queues. It was the same for all the staff working airside who were paid by the hour.
Yes, but those delays were imposed by the TSA and/or airport, not McDonalds or the other vendors. I'm sure you sometimes got stuck in traffic on the way to the airport too - again not a delay caused by your employer. These people are having to wait at the direction of Apple, their employer, so your example is not comparable.
Re:The incredible irony of.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyway the behavior is: short term profits that in the log term undercut the buying power of the general public, and eventually your own company.
The term: cannibalism. Or maybe economic cannibalism.
You misspelled "capitalism".
Re:Apple is just an Electronics Company (Score:4, Insightful)
Shut up you ignorant lying moron.
sales are plummeting
It's seen a _small_ sales dip in _some_ categories but nothing close to "plummeting". And if you dare quote the iPad numbers, you will betray how daft you are. It's a channel adjustment - the actual sell through numbers only dropped 3% which is _EASILY_ attributable to people knowing a new iPad is on the horizon and choosing to wait before buying and if you consider a 3% dip "plummeting" then you are a moron.
paying literally zero tax
Apple paid more corporate taxes than ANY OTHER AMERICAN COMPANY! Now, I don't know what your definition of "literally zero" is but when they paid more than anyone else, that would suggest they did not, in fact, pay "literally zero". Unless every other corporation got money back, Apple did not LITERALLY pay ZERO taxes.
I'm not going to pick apart any more of your post because you're a lying moron and not worth my time. Anyone who claims Apple is paying "literally zero tax" is flat out a liar.
How does ignorant lying bullshit like this get modded up?
Feel free to flame; feel free to mod me troll, but I'm sick of flat out bullshit ignorant posts like this being modded "Informative". I've been coming to Slashdot for many years to learn new things about tech and geek subjects but this is getting pathetic. Hate Apple, if you want, but at least base it vaguely on facts rather than complete and total bullshit lies.