Los Angeles (AFP)
The Supreme Court of California ruled on Thursday that if Apple wanted to search the personal belongings of its employees to avoid theft, the firm had to do it on their working time and therefore pay them as such.
This decision means that Apple will have to pay millions of dollars to the approximately 12,000 people paid by the hour in its Californian stores concerned by this procedure of searching bags and electronic devices.
According to documents submitted to the court, Apple employees must report to the time clock the end of their service before submitting to this search, which can take five to twenty minutes.
On busy days, however, this process can take up to 45 minutes, say employees.
At first instance, the magistrates had judged in favor of Apple, considering that the waiting time for these searches at the exit could not be assimilated to "working time" according to the California law.
As for employees who do not want to comply with searches, they face disciplinary sanctions, even dismissal, Apple arguing that they always have the freedom to report for work without a bag and without an iPhone if want to avoid the search.
The Supreme Court brushed aside this argument, pointing out "the irony and inconsistency" of the mobile phone maker. These devices "are now so much an integral part of our daily lives that the famous visitor from Mars could conclude that they are an essential element of the human anatomy", write the judges.
Asked by AFP, Apple officials had not reacted Thursday at midday.
Already in 2018, the Supreme Court of California ruled that employees of the Starbucks chain should be compensated for the time spent closing their store, a process whose highly codified steps can take several minutes after the end of the service.
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