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A New Jersey man has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Black and Latinx Amazon employees over the company’s handling of its workers regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.
The lead plaintiff, Christian S., says Amazon was failing to protect him and other workers — particularly those of color — at its Staten Island, New York, fulfillment center during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Workers went without protective equipment and the facility was not being sanitized properly, among other things, he claims. And when he complained and organized demonstrations outside the warehouse to protest, he was fired, he says.
His lawyers filed the federal class action lawsuit against Amazon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Nov. 12. Christian is seeking to represent a Class of fellow Amazon fulfillment center employees who are Black and Latinx.
Christian says he worked for Amazon since 2015 and had been a management associate at its Staten Island distribution center since 2016. He managed roughly 60 employees, the class action lawsuit claims.
On March 24, a fellow worker Christian had close contact with tested positive for COVID-19, but Amazon did not issue quarantine instructions to those the worker had come in contact with, the class action lawsuit states.
A day later, Christian approached higher-level managers and human resource officials to find out if he and others should, in fact, quarantine, given their exposure to the infected co-worker, and he directly requested he be placed on a quarantine, he said. On March 28, a senior operations manager confirmed Christian was to quarantine with pay.
In the days between making the request and getting confirmation his quarantine was approved, the plaintiff says, he served as a liaison for other workers who were concerned about the way management was handling the potential risk of the spread of the coronavirus.
On March 29, Christian led a demonstration of Amazon workers in the parking lot outside the facility where they worked to draw attention to their concerns.
Christian says in his class action lawsuit he was “alarmed that Amazon was not following basic precautions, endangering the health, safety and survival of those working at this distribution center and their families.”
Amazon was not taking the temperatures of workers before allowing them to enter the workplace, nor was it providing workers with personal protective equipment or hand sanitizer, Christian’s class action lawsuit claims.
The company was also not enforcing social distancing at the warehouse, “nor following New York or [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance for cleaning and disinfecting the facility.”
The majority of the lower-level Amazon employees at the Staten Island fulfillment center are Black and Latinx, the lawsuit says, and Christian claims Amazon treated them with less care than the mostly white upper-management employees there.
Christian says Amazon management was more receptive to complaints and concerns voiced by groups of employees he brought to them when the groups included white workers. He continued demonstrating outside the Amazon warehouse, trying to draw attention to the racial inequalities he said he was seeing.
Hours after one of those demonstrations, on March 30, Christian was terminated by Amazon for allegedly violating the terms of his quarantine and endangering the health and safety of the workers at the fulfillment center, according to his class action lawsuit.
A memo Christian’s lawyers claim Amazon’s general counsel, David Zapolsky, wrote to CEO Jeff Bezos described Christian as “not smart or articulate.” For that reason, Zapolsky allegedly recommended making Christian “the face of the workers criticizing its response to the pandemic” because he would be an easy target to defeat, the class action claims.
The memo is evidence of “discriminatory animus against its minority workers,” Christian’s class action lawsuit states.
Are you among the Amazon employees concerned about the company’s handling of its workers regarding the coronavirus pandemic? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
The lead plaintiff and the proposed Class Members are represented by Tricia CK Hoffler of The CK Hoffler Firm and Michael H. Sussman of Sussman & Associates.
The Amazon Employees Class Action Lawsuit is Christian S., et al. v. Amazon Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-05492, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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17 thoughts onAmazon Employees File Class Action Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Practices
Worked for amazon in bronx and queens, in march beginning of covid i was fired because i was feeling sick
I caught covid working at Amazon because they failed to tell me when my co worker who I come in close contact with tested positive.
At Amazon the practices were partial to certain groups of people. We were notified many days later after somebody that we had worked closely with on the warehouse floor had a positive test for Covid. If the Amazon corporation informed us at all. We most often heard of people who were sick or simply positive through word of mouth. Initially there was no social distancing. Then they became absolutely overbearing about it, not even permitting us to sit with or near the coworkers we worked our 10 hour shifts with.
I’m in.
Add Me I’m an ex employee had to quit because I got sick. They never paid for my 2 weeks off and all Amazon employees are exposed because everything I touched in a huge warehouse was made from china
Add me
I am latino and they discriminated against me and stereotyping me and mistreated me isn’t right
They also had mistreated me and wrongfully accused me of stealing someone’s belongings when the person’s personal effects were still in the same place.