State suit claims Amazon ignored virus protections for its workers

NEW YORK » The New York attorney general is suing Amazon over COVID-19 safety protocols, accusing the company of being more concerned with making money than protecting its workers from getting sick.

The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday, involves two Amazon facilities in New York City that employ more than 5,000 workers. It alleges that Amazon failed to disinfect those facilities when infected workers had been present; didn’t contact workers when they were exposed to the virus; and made employees work so much that they didn’t have time to disinfect their workstations or stay socially distant.

“While Amazon and its CEO made billions during this crisis, hardworking employees were forced to endure unsafe conditions,” said New York Attorney

General Letitia James, who filed the lawsuit.

The suit landed just days after Amazon preemptively sued to block it from happening. In its own lawsuit filed Friday, Amazon said that unannounced inspections by the New York City sheriff’s office found its New York warehouse went above and beyond safety requirements. On Wednesday, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel added that the attorney general’s lawsuit doesn’t present an accurate picture of Amazon’s response to the virus.

The pandemic has exposed how Amazon, the country’s second-largest private employer, treats its workers who pack and ship orders. Some have protested a lack of masks and protective equipment while others have said the company isn’t forthcoming about how many people are getting sick. At a warehouse in Alabama, nearly 6,000 workers are voting on whether they want to join a union, the biggest union push in Amazon’s history. Among the requests by union organizers is for Amazon, whose profits and revenues have skyrocketed during the pandemic, to treat workers with respect and give them more breaks.

Not having enough breaks was also brought up in the lawsuit. It said that Amazon monitors workers constantly, and that those who aren’t working at all times could get in trouble or be fired. That has caused workers to rush back from breaks and not take the time to wash their hands, clean their workstations or stay socially distant, according to complaint.

Besides potentially exposing workers to the virus, the lawsuit also said that Amazon illegally retaliated against workers who spoke up about poor safety conditions in its facilities.