Court grants class-action status to wages and breaks lawsuit of 20,000-strong ex-Apple employees

Apple Inc would now need to prepare itself to court again as another employee-related lawsuit has been granted group status by a court to move forward. The lawsuit, which was formally filed in 2011 by four ex-Apple retail and corporate employees, had claimed that the company's managers held back their wages to force them to work extra hours, and that the employees often work over five hours without any breaks in between.

According to labor laws in the California state, rest breaks are mandatory, Yahoo News noted. The plaintiffs said that there is proof that managers do not allow them to go on breaks as the latter normally punch in and out when taking a breather.

The counsel of the plaintiffs, Tyler Belong, added, "Very often, workers were not given meal breaks for seven or eight hours and sometimes not at all."

The lawsuit provides an insight on how working in Apple in the Steve Jobs era is. Business Insider reported that while the Apple co-founder and former chief executive officer is normally quiet and reserved, his passion for working has clearly challenged some employees with a few choice statements.

Because Jobs has a high standard in product design and development, it has been said that employees cower when the late innovator chance upon them and ask what they have been working on. David Black, who once took multiple roles while working in Apple, said that Apple employees avoid Jobs even in the cafeteria for fear that they would be put in the spotlight about their productivity.

He told Business Insider, "No one would fill the seats near him. Just because you wanted to be ready for that moment. It was just that little moment of being challenged."

The lawsuit would not be the first time Apple has been confronted with regard to its employees. In April, Apple along with Google, Intel, and Adobe settled a class-action suit about their alleged collusion to manipulate the salaries of technical workers, the Verge said. The case, of which plaintiffs have asked $9 billion in damages, was initially settled in a smaller $324.5 million agreement.

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Apple Inc, Apple employee backpay and breaks lawsuit, Steve Jobs

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