Court decides workers must be paid during Apple searches
Employers like Apple that search their employees’ bags before they go home must pay them for the time they spend on the search, the state Supreme Court said Thursday in a ruling likely to apply to many retail businesses in California.
Apple requires workers at its stores to submit their bags, packages, backpacks, purses and Apple devices such as iPhones to searches at the end of their shifts or whenever they leave the store and does not pay them for their time. Employees have estimated that awaiting and undergoing the searches generally takes between five and 20 minutes, but can last as long as 45 minutes on busy days.
Sued by a group of employees in 2013, the Cupertinobased technology company argued that the searches should not be considered work time because employees could avoid them by not bringing bags or devices to work. A federal judge
in San Francisco agreed and dismissed the suit. But a federal appeals court panel then asked the state’s high court for a definitive interpretation of state labor law on an issue “of extreme importance to numerous employers and employees in California.”
In Thursday’s ruling, the court noted that the state Industrial Welfare Commission, in a 1947 order, defined compensable “hours worked” as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of any employer.” The time spent on mandatory searches fits that definition, the court said.
“Apple employees are clearly under Apple’s control while awaiting, and during, the exit searches,” Chief Justice Tani CantilSakauye said in the 70 ruling.
She noted that the company requires employees to locate a manager or security guard to conduct the search, to remain in the store during the search, and to open their bags and packages and hand over their Apple devices. Employees who violate the rules can be fired.
The searches “are imposed mainly for Apple’s benefit by serving to detect and deter theft,” CantilSakauye said. She said the searches “are, as a practical matter, required” for employees who use bags to bring everyday items to work. Employees are also required to wear Applebranded clothing at work but to cover it up or remove it outside the store, another reason to carry a bag, the chief justice said.
Many retailers in California have similar policies, and other suits are pending against several of them, said Kimberly Kralowec, a lawyer for the employees who sued Apple.
“It’s a good day for employees in California,” Kralowec said. She said the ruling would allow Apple employees to seek damages for unpaid search time dating back to July 2009, four years before the suit was filed.
Apple and its attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment. State and national business organizations filed arguments supporting the company’s position, while employee and consumer advocates, and the union representing prison guards, argued in support of the plaintiffs.
The ruling illustrated the breadth of California law compared to a 1947 federal law, the PortaltoPortal Act, which narrowed the definition of payable “hours worked” under U.S. law. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the federal law did not entitle employees to be paid for the time they spent waiting for security searches, because that time was not “integral and indispensable” to their work.
It was in response to the federal law, CantilSakauye said, that the California Industrial Welfare Commission issued its 1947 order defining work hours more broadly. Such wage orders, she said, “must be liberally construed” because they are intended to benefit employees.
The case is Frlekin vs. Apple, S243805.