Apple could be hit with a wage payments scandal of its own over employee bag checks

Apple has been accused of contradicting itself in its defence of a rule in its stores that could end up costing the company dearly.

Apple’s policy of preventing staff leaving its retail stores before subjecting them to a search of their property could end up costing the company millions.

The electronics giant has been plodding through court over allegations it owes more than 12,000 workers money for forcing them to submit to bag searches before they can leave at the end of their shift.

The Supreme Court in California, where Apple was founded and is based, ruled last Thursday the company was required to pay its employees in that state’s 52 stores for the time it took to check their bags every time they left the store: a process that could take up to 45 minutes.

Apple had previously received a more favourable decision by a lower court, but that has now been overruled on appeal.

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The workers in this photo outside a San Francisco Apple store could be given back payments for the time it took to search their bags each day. Picture: AP Photo/Eric Risberg

Under the policy, Apple’s retail staff have to submit their bags (and anything they might happen to own that’s also sold by the company, such as their personal iPhone) for inspection before leaving the store for any reason, according to the court’s opinion on the case.

While it’s hardly surprising for a retail company to want to search its employees’ effects to make sure they aren’t sneaking off with the product, the court has taken issue with the workers not getting paid for the time that search takes.

It also called out Apple’s defence that its employees could simply avoid bringing a bag or their own personal Apple products into the store with them if they didn’t want to wait for the check.

“The record indicates that Apple employees bring a bag to work for a variety of reasons,” the court ruled, noting that while Apple managers estimated only 30 per cent of employees brought a bag, the employees themselves estimated “nearly all” of them do.

Apple workers aren’t supposed to wear their uniforms outside the store. Staff at this recently reopened Beijing store have added masks to protect against the coronavirus outbreak. Picture: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

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It specifically called out Apple’s requirement that its staff not visibly wear their store uniform outside of the store as well as several claims the company had consistently made that were “at odds” with their defence in the case.

One in particular related to the defence that Apple employees could avoid searches by not bringing their personal iPhone into the store.

“The irony and inconsistency of Apple’s argument must be noted. Its characterisation of the iPhone as unnecessary for its own employees is directly at odds with its description of the iPhone as an ‘integrated and integral’ part of the lives of everyone else.”

The court cited a previous court submission from Apple in a different case where the company claimed smartphones were “practical necessities of modern life” and “not just another technological convenience”.

Another submission cited in the decision claimed that “Apple’s position everywhere except in defending against this lawsuit is that use of Apple’s products for personal convenience is an important and essential part of participating fully in modern life”.

Apple’s defence that its technology was less vital for store employees than it was for everyone else fell flat with the court. Picture: Don Emmert / AFP

The Apple case is similar to other recent rulings under California wage requirements that employees be paid for all the time they are under the control of their employer, which appears to include off-the-clock exit inspections.

Employees from Converse and Nike retail stores have also brought cases. Nike bought Converse in 2003.

The most recent decision fell in favour of the Apple employees, as the court ruled they were still technically at work during the searches, which benefit the company far more than they benefit its workers.

Apple tried to argue the search policy benefits its employees because the company could instead rule they weren’t allowed to bring anything with them to work, a justification the court described as “far-fetched and untenable”.

Do you think workers should be paid for the time it takes to pass an exit inspection? Let us know in the comments below.