New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Amazon for negligence in protecting its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic and for retaliation against those who expressed concern, the prosecution reported Wednesday.
Prosecutor assures Amazon violated New York state labor laws and charged the company “fire and punish” workers who objected to the working conditions imposed during the pandemic
“As Amazon and its president made billions during this crisis, hard-working workers were forced to endure unsafe conditions and received retaliation for raising these concerns, and with good reason,” James said in a statement.
The attorney general said that since March last year “it is clear that Amazon values profit more than people and has failed to ensure the health and safety of its employees” and he regretted that the workers who make the country work “are treated the worst”.
In anticipation of James’ lawsuit, Amazon filed a lawsuit against the attorney general herself last Friday, accusing her of do not take into account the information the company gave you about the treatment of employees during the pandemic and subject the group to a kind of blackmail.
The company asked a federal judge to rule that the New York prosecutor’s office has no jurisdiction to bring these cases to court.
Amazon employees demonstrated several times in the spring in front of one of the company’s warehouses in New York’s Staten Island district, criticizing management for not adequately protecting them from COVID-19.
Amazon then claimed to have done more than necessary to mitigate the risk of infection, creating distance between employees and tripling the cleaning frequency. The prosecution then began to investigate the matter.
In late April, James sent a letter to the e-commerce giant after concluding that the protections were “inadequate”.
The prosecutor demanded a series of concessions from the company, saying it would take Amazon to court if it failed to comply. That’s what he did on Wednesday.
Among other things, James demanded that the platform redistribute more of its profits, subsidize public transportation for employees, and lower their work rates and performance indicators.
The public prosecutor indicated that the investigation would be continued and offered himself the option of going to a judge.
Amazon claims to have proposed these subsidies, but claims it has met with the refusal of New York’s transportation authorities. The company also claims to have slowed work rates given the pandemic’s limitations.