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August 5, 2008

legal

Apple employees are slaves, says lawsuit

Posted Aug. 5, ’08, 7:08 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Legal

90_hours.jpgEmbellishment of the Year Award goes to David Walsh and his crack team of hyperbolical lawyers, who filed suit against Apple on Monday alleging the company subjects its California IT workers “to conditions resembling indentured servitude and, in violation of California state law, are denied required overtime pay and meal benefits.”

Indentured servitude?! Like “a vicious circle, in which an indentured servant would become further indebted to their employer, who would forgive the debt in exchange for an extension to the period of their indenture, which could then thereby continue indefinitely”? Walsh was a victim of “violence, abuse, mistreatment and subjugation at the hands of their employers in the homes and fields in which they worked”??

David Walsh, who worked as a network engineer at Apple from 1995 until last year, was routinely forced to work more than 40 hours per week, missed meals, and often had to spend evenings and entire weekends on call without receiving an extra dollar of pay, according to the suit.

Oh. Well, close enough I guess.

It’s no surprise that Apple demands a lot from its employees, particularly with regards to hours they put in and dedication to their jobs. Steve Jobs has been known as a slave-driver, pushing employees to their limits to meet insane deadlines and project goals—sometimes to the detriment of the products themselves. (Though Andy Hertzfeld, a member of the original Macintosh design team, does note Steve’s “90 hours a week” comment about the team was an exaggeration.)

But what we rarely hear about is the employees’ compensation for their extreme efforts. Sure, they get iPods here and there, and they did get a free iPhone after its launch. But it’s not hard to imagine the overtime work outweighing the cost of a free iPhone, and the suit asserts that Apple did little else—including paying overtime—for its employees’ extra work.

How? Walsh’s lawyers say Apple classified the employees as management, which excludes them from California’s overtime-pay requirements—and a bunch of other complicated business-y things to avoid ponying up the cash and attempting (though obviously failing) to make their procedures lawsuit-proof.

I guess the validity of the claim is up to the courts, but I do have one gripe with their complaint:

During his on-call hours, Walsh “was required to remain on stand-by for the entire night, every night of the week, for the entire week without compensation,” contends the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for Southern California.

“Every night of the week, for the entire week”?

Is it a legal tactic to be repetitive? Though I guess it does make it sound more dramatic and substantial. Quite the rhetoricians they are.


15 Comments

Scissor Author Profile Page said:

Having had a job with required 'stand-by' I agree they should be compensated. Common practice.

On the subject of pay, Apple & customers should be concerned about the $50 per MONTH paid to their sub, Foxconn, iPod etc. assemblers in China, as well as their working conditions.

August 5, 2008 7:27 PM
Dave Robeson said:

Any Hertzfeld? Is that the guy the 'Any' key was named after?

August 5, 2008 7:38 PM
Anonymous said:

If the workers volunteer to work for Apple for the wages offered, who are we to tell them they are being mistreated?

After the fact, any moron can sue for MORE money. Doesn't mean they deserve it.

August 5, 2008 8:45 PM
funkright said:

I often appreciate your levity, but this is pretty serious business (employee care and integrity of operations), and, honestly, your comments show callous disregard for others in challenging employment conditions (whether or not I like or use the offending company's products, this has no weight on a situation that affects the human condition).

August 5, 2008 8:45 PM
Anonymous said:

I cannot help but agree with funkright: I love Apple products, ideas, and innovation, but as a former salaried manager (and Apple retail employee), I know first-hand that shareholder expectations completely out-weigh and override employee compensation. I may agree to work the "hours necessary" to complete my given duties, but those necessary hours do not and cannot exceed a period which constitutes the legally mandated work-week of exempt or non-exempt employees. Popularity does not nor should not preclude ethical or legal obligation.

August 5, 2008 9:48 PM
VA said:

Huhhh..With great victories come great sacrifice? F*ck that, man. Never gonna buy apple products again.

August 6, 2008 4:48 AM
Paul S said:

In my IT career, I've always been on salary and never been compensated for being on call. Let me squeeze out a tear for the guy. If he doesn't like the working conditions, he should go elsewhere. Or chose a different career.

Maybe Apple should move IT to another state and not have that problem anymore.

August 6, 2008 5:50 AM
Ann Onymous said:

Overworked, yes. Underpaid? There are oodles of overworked AND underpaid intelligent workers who would love to exchange their actual wage servitude for the horrible life of being an Apple employee.

August 6, 2008 6:44 AM
rmcmahan said:

“Every night of the week, for the entire week”?

Straight from the Department of Redundancy Department.

August 6, 2008 7:33 AM
Paul Author Profile Page said:

Well, if this changes practices for all employees in IT, then I'm all for this guy.

It's not just Apple. I've been working in California for nine years (not Apple, yet) and I've never received a penny of overtime, despite periods of long hours (three years ago I worked on a project that was in danger of failing and worked 10 hour days, six or seven days a week, for six months).

This has become the expectation in our field. With no collective bargaining available (no unions), individual workers can't really kick up a fuss about it. Although I'm good at my job, I'm not really outstanding, so replacing me would be a hassle but wouldn't bring everything crashing down.

If you refuse to buy Apple because of this, you may as well refuse to buy any US-based IT products.

Still, "on-call" doesn't mean what most of you think. My current contract says I'm on call pretty much permanently, but that doesn't mean my life comes to a standstill. It just means if something goes wrong in a product I'm responsible for, I can be woken up by a phone call at 3am. It hasn't happened yet.

August 6, 2008 9:26 AM
Glenn said:

12 years? (1995 until "last year)

At what point did he feel he Apple was violating the labor code?

August 6, 2008 9:33 AM
Tony D said:

Maybe its time for software engineers and IT people to unionize. Just a thought.

August 6, 2008 11:24 AM
pete said:

"Now you know you're underpaid but the boss says you ain't,
He speeds up the work 'til you're about to faint.
You may be down and out but you ain't beaten,
You can pass out a leaflet, call a meeting.

Talk it over,
Speak your mind.
Decide to do something about it!"

-- Talking Union Blues

August 6, 2008 1:24 PM
Anonymous said:

Unions are the suck. There are already laws in place to protect workers. Unions are not necessary in this day and age. If Apple violated the law and this loser can prove it then he'll win but I have a funny feeling that Apple's team of lawyers knows exactly what the law is and how to prove they followed it to the letter.

August 6, 2008 1:54 PM
PlanetaryGear said:

hmm... worked a lot of jobs like that. In the case of accepting a salaried position one isn't offered overtime like an hourly person is. You're told what is expected of you time wise and then told what they are willing to pay you for it. You then try to get a bit more than that and either decide it's not worth it or you accept it. You dont then hold on to your bitter anger for 15 years before then suing the company.

And being "available" doesn't mean that they actually called him in to do something each and every night of the whole week. When I worked support in addition to being a developer we would pass the beeper around. You'd be on for a week, and a call in the evening was not uncommon but anything that woke you up from a sound sleep was very rare, maybe once during the week you were on call. He needs to have more info on the work load rather than just that he was on call.

August 6, 2008 2:41 PM

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