California High Court Rules That Employers Must Pay Employees For Exit Searches
Why This Matters
Last week, the California Supreme Court dealt tech giant Apple Inc. a blow when the Court ruled that California law requires the company to compensate employees for the time they spend waiting for company-required searches before leaving Apple’s retail stores.
To the extent California employers require their workers to undergo unpaid security screenings, the Apple ruling means employers must now either compensate their employees for that time or dispense with their mandatory bag-check/security screening policies. If the latter isn’t an option, employers may be best served by speeding up their security screens. The Supreme Court suggested several measures an employer could adopt to limit the scope of searches, such as imposing “reasonable restrictions on the size, shape or number of bags” workers bring and providing workers with off-site lockers in which to store their personal items.