Employees hit Apple, Nike, others with employment lawsuits

Employment lawsuits overview: 

• Who: Employees recently filed lawsuits against Apple TV, Amazon, Nike, Smoothstack and Walmart.  
• Why: The complaints involve alleged improper pay, failure to accommodate breastfeeding mothers, discrimination, monetary penalties and biometric privacy law violations.
• Where: The class action lawsuits were filed in U.S. federal courts. 

Workers have recently filed complaints against companies over employment-related concerns, including a failure to properly pay, discrimination, failure to accommodate and violating biometric privacy law. 

Class action claims Apple TV, Amazon Studios failed to properly pay background actors

An actor filed a class action lawsuit against Apple TV, Amazon Studios and other production studios earlier this month over claims the companies failed to properly pay their background actors. 

The class action lawsuit argues the companies failed to offer their background actors proper overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, accurate wage statements and timely pay. 

The lawsuit also argues Apple TV and Amazon Studios did not reimburse background actors for significant out-of-pocket cell phone expenses they incurred for their work. 

Nike doesn’t lawfully accommodate lactating workers, class action claims

A former Nike employee filed a class action lawsuit against the company in May over claims it failed to provide California-mandated accommodations to its postpartum and nursing female workers who returned to work but still needed to pump breast milk. 

The class action lawsuit argues Nike fails to provide lactating workers with a reasonable break time and place that is private, shielded and in close proximity to their work location where they can sit and pump milk. 

“Nursing mothers who do not have adequate workplace support are at an increased risk of early weaning, illness and/or infections and job loss. Therefore, it is critical for workplaces to provide a secure lactation space for nursing mothers,” the Nike class action says. 

Amazon discriminated against worker who took pregnancy leave, suit says

A former Amazon artificial intelligence researcher filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com services and two of its managing agents last month over claims the company discriminated against her after taking pregnancy leave. 

The worker argues the alleged discrimination came as Amazon made a push to catch up with ChatGPT and other AI technologies from competitor tech companies and that the company asked her to violate copyright laws as part of its bid to push its efforts forward. 

Amazon ultimately placed the worker on a formal performance improvement plan that required her to meet impossible standards within a short period, the Amazon class action alleges. 

Smoothstack underpaid, failed to pay workers during training, class action claims

A class action lawsuit was filed against Smoothstack earlier this month over claims the company either underpaid or failed to pay its workers entirely during a six-month training program. 

The complaint argues Smoothstack also required workers to pay a $24,000 penalty if they failed to meet the company’s billable hours requirement of 4,000 hours of client work. 

“Smoothstack boasts that its training program has just an 8% completion rate on its website to clients, as if that number is competitive because of high-quality training,” the class action says. “In reality, recruits are overworked and underpaid for a subpar training program.”

Walmart violated biometric privacy law with fingerprint scanners, class action says 

A former Walmart worker filed a class action lawsuit against the retailer in April over claims the company required its employees to provide them with fingerprint data without obtaining consent needed as required by Illinois law. 

The class action lawsuit argues Walmart violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by requiring employees to scan their fingerprints for timekeeping and payroll purposes. 

“Fingerprint scans are unique, permanent biometric identifiers associated with each user that cannot be changed or replaced if stolen or compromised,” the Walmart class action lawsuit says.

Have you been injured by your current or past employer? Let us know in the comments.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Judge grants class certification in Tesla racial discrimination class action
• Paramount class action claims company failed to pay movie crew members total wages
• Chanel class action claims some employees not paid for all hours worked
• Delta reaches $16M settlement with flight attendants in longstanding wage lawsuit