Tim Cook received complaints in the bag check policy Apple

At least two of Apple Inc retail workers complained directly to CEO Tim Cook that control policy bags retail employees "as security was shameful and degrading, according to a court filing the company released Wednesday.

The employee complaints, a judge ordered sealed are part of a 2013 lawsuit alleging Apple should compensate employees for the time it takes to perform searches. A worker, whose name was blacked out of the court filing said Cook in a 2012 message that Apple executives "are obliged to treat employees' rated as criminals."

Cook sent retail and senior HR executives with the question: "Is this true?"

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

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs Amanda Dean Pelle Friekin and claimed that "projections" or bag searches, designed to deter thieves, are performed each time sales reps leave the store, even for meal breaks . The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks class-action status. Demands from within the ranks of Apple are rare.
A ruling by the US Supreme Court last December, in a case involving a contractor store Amazon.com Inc. gave a victory for employers, ruling that the companies do not have to pay employees for time passing security checks undergoing at the end of their shifts. The Supreme Court held that because the selection process is not a "core business" of jobs of workers under federal labor law is not subject to compensation.

In 2012 Cook email with a subject line "Feedback Fearless Apple Retail specialist," the employee said that Apple's policy implies the company does not trust their employees. "These procedures are often performed in front of gawking customers," the employee wrote, adding that workers deserve to be treated with the same respect that Apple shows customers.

Another e-mail sent by a child laborer in Beijing to Cook and other executives in 2013, said that Apple treats its employees "like animals" and thieves. He also said an emergency exit in the store is blocked by Apple products.

Cook's response to that e-mail is not shown in the court filing, although other Apple executives did discuss bag search policy.

"If it is simply a deterrent that has to be a more intelligent and respectful way to approach about," wrote Denise Young Smith, vice president of human resources at Apple.

A hearing in the trial is scheduled for July 2.