At least two Apple Inc retail store workers complained directly to the chief executive, Tim Cook, that its policy of checking retail employees’ bags as a security precaution was embarrassing and demeaning, a court filing made public on Wednesday has revealed.



The employee complaints, which a judge ordered unsealed, are part of a 2013 lawsuit alleging Apple should compensate employees for the time it takes to conduct the searches. One worker, whose name was blacked out of the court filing, told Cook in a 2012 message that Apple managers “are required to treat ‘valued’ employees as criminals”.

Cook forwarded it to senior retail and human resources executives with the query, “Is this true?”

The court filing does not include what responses Cook received. An Apple representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs Amanda Friekin and Dean Pelle alleged that “screenings” or bag searches, designed to discourage theft, were being conducted every time sales reps left the store, including for meal breaks. The lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the northern district of California, seeks class action status.

A US supreme court ruling in December 2014, in a case involving an Amazon warehouse contractor, handed a victory to employers, ruling that companies do not have to pay employees for the time they spend undergoing security checks at the end of their shifts.

The supreme court found that because the screening process was not a “principal activity” of the workers’ jobs, under a federal labour law it was not subject to compensation.

In the 2012 email to Cook, with a subject line “Fearless feedback from Apple retail specialist”, the employee said Apple’s policy implied the company did not trust its workers.

“These procedures are often performed in front of gawking customers,” the employee wrote, and added that workers deserved to be treated with the same respect shown to customers.

Another email, sent by a retail worker in Beijing to Cook and other managers in 2013, said Apple treated its employees “as animals” and thieves. It said an emergency exit in the store was blocked by Apple products.

Cook’s response to that email was not displayed in the court filing, although other Apple executives did discuss the bag search policy.

“If it is simply a deterrent there has to be a more intelligent and respectful way to approach,” wrote Denise Young Smith, Apple’s vice-president of human resources.

A hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for 2 July.