KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Fired Amazon worker sues over pandemic working conditions

Fired Amazon worker sues over pandemic working conditions

Fired Amazon worker Christian Smalls filed a class-action lawsuit against the e-commerce giant on Thursday, alleging that Amazon violated federal civil rights law by terminating his employment and by allegedly putting thousands of other minority Amazon workers at risk during the pandemic.
The suit, filed in US district court in the Eastern District of New York, calls for compensation for Smalls and more protective measures for Amazon workers who continue to handle packages in the company's facilities amid a worsening health crisis.

Amazon (AMZN) didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The suit marks a high-profile attack against Amazon for its health and safety practices in the early months of the pandemic, when a surge in consumer demand for e-commerce put additional strain on the company's logistics network. Amazon has said it has provided more hand sanitizer, implemented temperature checks and required social distancing at its facilities. But even as the policies were rolling out, workers themselves were saying it was not enough.

In October, Amazon confirmed that nearly 20,000 of its workers had tested positive or been presumed positive for the coronavirus, highlighting the toll that the pandemic has taken on the company's workforce even as Americans have come to depend more heavily on the platform for rapid delivery of everyday necessities.

Smalls was fired by Amazon earlier this year after organizing a protest outside his workplace, the JFK8 fulfillment center in Staten Island, to highlight what Smalls said were unsafe working conditions at the start of the pandemic.

Smalls began working for Amazon in 2015 and was promoted to a mid-level management position the following year, according to the suit. The complaint claims that after a colleague tested positive for the virus, Smalls confronted his supervisors, who allegedly declined to issue a quarantine order for those who had come into contact with the infected employee.

The facility's managers also allegedly ignored guidance from state and federal public health officials, failed to provide workers with protective equipment or establish social distancing guidelines in response to Smalls' expressions of alarm.

At the time of his firing, Amazon said it had placed Smalls under coronavirus quarantine and that by showing up to the JFK8 facility for the protest, Smalls had violated the terms of that quarantine.

Smalls "was found to have had close contact with a diagnosed associate with a confirmed case of COVID-19 and was asked to remain home with pay for 14 days," Amazon spokesperson Kristen Kish said at the time. "Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite [on] March 30, putting the teams at risk."

Smalls is not the only Amazon worker to complain about safe working conditions. Amazon employees nationwide have staged protests and written petitions. New York Attorney General Letitia James has launched an investigation, one that Smalls said he has cooperated with.

Last week, a federal judge tossed out a case alleging unsafe working conditions at the Staten Island Amazon facility, saying it was not the place of courts to dictate workplace safety requirements in the middle of a pandemic.

Michael Sussman, one of the attorneys representing Smalls in his litigation, said Thursday's case involves different allegations over racial discrimination, not workplace law.

Thursday's suit alleges that Amazon ignored Smalls' pleas and paid greater attention to the health and safety of the plant's white managers over that of black and brown line workers.

"We would suggest that the cavalier attitude that Amazon took was because they were black and brown people who were primarily impacted at this facility," said CK Hoffler, another of the attorneys representing Smalls in the litigation. Hoffler is also the president of the National Bar Association and chair of the
Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which is backing the litigation (but is not named as a plaintiff in the suit).

In a press conference Thursday, Smalls told reporters that Amazon's "white managers were being quarantined, one by one," but line workers were being told the managers were simply going on vacation. At the time, Smalls said, Amazon had not implemented any of the safety measures it currently practices. Only after Smalls was fired did those policies begin, he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×