Lawsuit Claims Apple Failed to Provide Overtime Pay

by , 2:10 PM EDT, August 5th, 2008

Apple has cheated some of its employees by not paying overtime, violated California Law and subjecting workers to indentured servitude, according to a lawsuit described by InformationWeek on Monday.

A former Apple network engineer, David Walsh, who was classified as a manager, claims he was forced to work more than 40 hours per week, miss meals, and spend entire weekends on standby without compensation.

"After working an entire workday on the Friday of the rotation, [Mr. Walsh] was required to remain on call twenty-four hours a day from Friday evening until Monday morning, when he would report to the employer's work site for his 'regular' workday without compensation," the complaint said.

Mr. Walsh's attorneys claimed that Apple intentionally classified him and other workers as management so that they could avoid paying overtime.

This could be a tough case to win since Mr. Walsh worked for Apple for over a decade, and salaried managers are required put in whatever hours are required to get the job done. Frequently, when salaried employees work extended periods, their managers will give them crash or downtime to recover. Whether that was done was not divulged, but arguing that he should have been an hourly worker to get overtime may be a difficult stance to take.

Mr. Walsh is seeking damages from Apple.