Judge Approves Apple’s Plan to Pay $30.5 Million to Settle Bag Check Lawsuit

Apple will pay $30.5 million to settle a long-running lawsuit over employee bag checks, reports Bloomberg Law. Apple initially agreed to the sum in November 2021, and now a judge has given final approval to the settlement amount.

The class action lawsuit involves 14,683 California employees who were subjected to off-the-clock bag searches between July 25, 2009 and August 10, 2015. Apple was subjecting employees to mandatory bag checks that were described as “embarrassing and demeaning” in the class-action lawsuit, and because those checks were conducted after a shift, employees were at work for an extra 10 to 15 minutes without being paid.

Apple claimed that its bag searches ensured employees were not hiding stolen electronics in their personal belongings, and that employees who did not want to be subject to searches could leave their bags at home, but that argument did not work for Apple.

After several appeals, the court ruled that Apple had to pay California employees for the time they had spent in bag searches, and Apple in January created a website where both current and former employees could learn about the settlement and submit claims.