French Court Says Apple Store Staff Can't Work Late Nights

By Jane McEntegart
published

Paris court says Apple can't make workers stay late to clean the store.

French Apple store employees will no longer be allowed to work late after a Paris court this week banned Apple stores from dishing out night shifts. The AFP reports that French labor laws dictate that workers can only work between 9pm and 6am if they are responsible for maintaining economic activity or providing social services. Apparently, staying late at the Apple Store to tidy up after closing (which sometimes keeps staff in until 11pm) doesn't fall under those terms, and workers unions filed a lawsuit against the Cupertino-based company.

According to the AFP, French courts this week awarded the labor unions €10,000 in damages and warned Apple that any additional infractions could cost the Cupertino-based company €50,000 a pop. Yowza. The ban on nightshifts covers seven French Apple stores, though there are 15 in total in France. The affected stores are include those of the Opéra in Paris Velizy 2 (Velizy-Villacoublay, Yvelines), Parly 2 (The Chesnay, Yvelines), Carré Sénart (Lieusaint, Seine-et-Marne), Val d'Europe (Marne-la-Vallee, Seine-et-Marne), Cape Town 3000 (Nice, Alpes-Maritimes) and Atlantis (Saint Herblain, Loire-Atlantique).

Another ruling on the same issue is expected on April 16.

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Jane McEntegart
41 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Onus
    Are there any people still wondering why the French economy is having problems?
    Reply
  • tramit
    If you are still getting paid to work those clean up shifts, I don't see a problem. I would like to work more for a little more cash if I needed to.
    Reply
  • DEY123
    Apple just needs to adopt to the local rules....I'm guessing the stores don't open at 6am so they can have a shift come in early and clean.

    Also this is probably the typical case of them being scheduled to work until the store closes..but then the boss asks you stay late to clean up. When i worked as a waiter I would have to clean up after my shift but that time (close to an hour) was paid at the waiter hourly wage instead of normal minimum.
    Reply
  • Fulgurant
    tramitIf you are still getting paid to work those clean up shifts, I don't see a problem. I would like to work more for a little more cash if I needed to.
    Yup. That's the problem with France's law. In the aggregate, preventing businesses from forcing employees to work long (or as in this case, late) hours might be a good thing, but that generalization ignores the individual's preferences.

    You could interpret the unions' complaint as, "Bad Apple, abusing your workers!" Or you could interpret the unions' complaint as, "If we can't work, and get paid for, longer hours, then by god Apple's employees can't do it either!" Whether the complaint is malevolent or benevolent is in the eye of the beholder.

    In any case, the unions have effectively discouraged Apple from hiring more people, if that option was ever on the table.
    Reply
  • twelch82
    OnusAre there any people still wondering why the French economy is having problems?
    When I read about their laws, I'm actually surprised they are able to have an economy at all.
    Reply
  • Fulgurant
    DEY123Apple just needs to adopt to the local rules....I'm guessing the stores don't open at 6am so they can have a shift come in early and clean.Also this is probably the typical case of them being scheduled to work until the store closes..but then the boss asks you stay late to clean up. When i worked as a waiter I would have to clean up after my shift but that time (close to an hour) was paid at the waiter hourly wage instead of normal minimum.Yeah, that's one of the nasty problems in tip-reliant positions. On the other hand, waiters at successful restaurants tend to make much more money, overall, than the high-hourly-waged workers who might otherwise be tasked with cleaning the front of the house (dishwashers).

    Anyway, there's no profit in opening the Apple store early (say, before 10am), and cleanup doesn't take a standardized amount of time, so any way you slice it, the French court's decision limits the hours Apple's employees can realistically get paid to work.
    Reply
  • tntom
    The AFP reports that French labor laws dictate that workers can only work between 9pm and 6am if they are responsible for maintaining economic activity or providing social services.

    I am a little confused? Is this maybe "cannot work"? Spell check fail maybe? or should it say "can only work between 6am and 9pm"?
    Reply
  • Fulgurant
    10493824 said:
    The AFP reports that French labor laws dictate that workers can only work between 9pm and 6am if they are responsible for maintaining economic activity or providing social services.

    I am a little confused? Is this maybe "cannot work"? Spell check fail maybe? or should it say "can only work between 6am and 9pm"?

    They can only work between those hours"if they are responsible for maintaining economic activity or providing social services." The phrasing of that last clause might be a little awkward; "maintaining economic activity," in this context, means that you might be in charge of keeping a bank's servers running. That little contextual wrinkle might not be immediately clear from the text, but there's no grammatical failure.

    The point is that France doesn't allow people to work late if they're not performing a job that is essential to society.
    Reply
  • childofthekorn
    FulgurantThey can only work between those hours"if they are responsible for maintaining economic activity or providing social services." The phrasing of that last clause might be a little awkward; "maintaining economic activity," in this context, means that you might be in charge of keeping a bank's servers running. That little contextual wrinkle might not be immediately clear from the text, but there's no grammatical failure.The point is that France doesn't allow people to work late if they're not performing a job that is essential to society.
    If the store was open to customers than I believe it would be okay. However the fact that the store has closed and there are no more customers would mean that they're being kept overtime. Now if they were to be subjected to penalties for not staying O.T. past their scheduled times in order to cleanup, then I can see where the issues originated. However the reasons are not entirely visible.
    Reply
  • condorxiii
    AHHHH! What to bash first? The fact Apple came up AGAIN or the French!?
    Reply