Apple to Pay One-Time Bonuses of Up to $1,000 to Store Employees: Report

Apple will pay one-time bonuses of as much as $1,000 (roughly Rs. 73,710 crores) to store employees next month, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company will give out $1,000 (roughly Rs. 73,710 crores) to retail staff hired before March 31, while those who joined later will get $500 (roughly Rs. 36,840), the report said.

New employees for the holiday shopping season will receive $200 (roughly Rs. 14,730) and bonuses will also be handed out to AppleCare and online sales staff, the report added.

Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The company's retail chief told Reuters in June that Apple was expanding its retail operations, betting that a combination of strategies developed before and during COVID-19 will make its stores more popular than ever. 

In other Apple-related news, the iPhone maker has blacklisted Fortnite from its App Store for several years until all the court appeals are done, Epic Games Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney said on Wednesday.

Epic Games' opening brief in its appeal to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is due December 12, according to a court filing and Apple's reply is due by January 20, 2022. The full appeal process could take years.

Sweeney took to Twitter on Wednesday, calling out Apple's move and said the company will continue to fight the tech giant.

"This is another extraordinary anticompetitive move by Apple, demonstrating their power to reshape markets and choose winners and losers," Sweeney said on Twitter.

The two companies have been locked in a legal dispute since August last year when the game maker tried to get around Apple's 30 percent fee on some in-app purchases on the App Store by launching its own in-app payment system.

The US tech giant is facing a raft of other legal and regulatory challenges to rules it forces game makers to follow, including the closely watched antitrust lawsuit brought by Epic Games.

Apple confirmed the authenticity of the letter that Sweeney shared, but declined to comment further. Apple has not yet said whether it will ask for the injunction to be paused pending the appeal process.

© Thomson Reuters 2021