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Judge Approves Apple's $30.5M Settlement Over Employee Bag Checks

The class action lawsuit argued that hourly retail workers deserved compensation for time spent going through mandatory bag and equipment checks.

Attila Tomaschek
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Attila Tomaschek
Apple logo on store facade with tree branches protruding into the frame.

Apple settles a 2013 class action lawsuit over mandatory searches for $30.5 million

 Óscar Gutiérrez/CNET

Apple will pay out $30.5 million to employees involved in a class action lawsuit that argued retail workers deserved compensation for time spent going through mandatory bag and equipment checks during and after their shifts. The settlement was approved by a federal judge in California on Saturday.

Two former retail employees filed the lawsuit in 2013, saying Apple's mandatory bag check policy required them to stand in line for up to 30 minutes a day waiting, uncompensated, for their bags to be checked for stolen goods. The employees alleged the bag check policy amounted to about $1,500 in unpaid wages per year.

The California Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Apple must compensate retail employees for time spent going through the searches because the searches were mandatory.

The settlement impacts hourly employees who worked at Apple stores in California between July 2009 and December 2015.

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