The judges ruled that store workers were “clearly under Apple’s control while awaiting, and during” the searches they were required to undergo when leaving the store and ordered the company to retroactively pay them for their time. (Engadget)

Talking point: The court order is the result of a six-year proceeding that could apply to over 12,400 workers and cost the company a seven-figure settlement. Apple argued employees could resolve the issue by not bringing their bags or iPhones to work, a defence the judges found was riddled with “irony and inconsistency.” Apple’s “characterization of the iPhone as unnecessary for its own employees is directly at odds with its description of the iPhone as an ‘integrated and integral’ part of the lives of everyone else,” they wrote. The company did not respond to the decision. The case will return to the Ninth Circuit appeals court, which has held similar judgments on Nike and Converse, where a judge will make a final ruling likely using the Supreme Court opinion.