Dive Brief:

• Apple retail workers were given the go-ahead in federal court in California on July 16 to pursue a class action lawsuit against Apple, breathing new life into a lawsuit filed in 2013, according to Time.
• The ruling, from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, concerns a lawsuit that alleges Apple should compensate store workers for the time taken to search their bags to make sure they did not steal any merchandise.
• Time reports that the plaintiffs, Amanda Frlekin and Dean Pelle, are seeking $5 million in lost overtime wages for the class members, which include more than 12,000 current and former Apple employees. They allege that workers were subject to twice daily checks of their personal bags by their supervisors, which not only took up a lot of time (employees often had to wait in line), but were also demeaning, since they were often performed in front of customers.

Dive Insight:

Time notes that this case was previously dismissed by the same judge in 2014, following a Supreme Court decision on a similar case. The Supreme Court had ruled against Amazon employees who sued the company’s temp agency for overtime wages earned while waiting in line for security checks.

Writing at the National Law Review, Benjamin Widener, a Shareholder in the Employment and Litigation practices at Stark & Stark, says it will be "interesting to see how the Frlekin v. Apple, Inc. wage claim litigation plays out in court under principles of California law." He wrote that the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling in the Amazon case may stymie this type of wage and hour litigation under the FLSA. However, because state wage and hour laws differ from the FLSA, the Court’s ruling in Busk may not impact or preclude the prosecution of claims for unpaid wages and overtime under certain state laws.

Thus, he writes, while companies like Amazon, Apple, JCPenney and CVS (which also have been sued under similar circumstances) may cheer the Supreme Court’s ruling in Busk, employers who implement workplace screenings – or regularly deal with portal-to-portal or other wage and hour issues – consult with experienced employment counsel to review and audit their wage and hour policies and procedures to avoid unnecessary wage claim litigation.