Apple Store employees who sued Apple over bag searches at the iPhone maker’s 52 brick and mortar outlets in California had their case certified as a class-action by a federal judge, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, reports Reuters (http://tinyurl.com/o587qwr).

It’s part of a 2013 lawsuit alleging Apple should compensate thousands of store employees for the time taken to search their bags to ensure they did not steal any merchandise. Reuters notes that Apple had argued in court filings that the case wasn’t suitable for class action status because not all store managers conducted bag searches, and any searches that did occur took a tiny amount of time which don’t deserve compensation. Alsup ruled that those issues could be litigated at trial.