At an Amazon Fresh grocery-delivery warehouse in San Francisco, Amazon has been putting workers and the public at risk of coronavirus infection through cramped conditions, re-use of employee protective suits without cleaning, and quotas that make it impossible for workers to practice social distancing or sanitization, a lawsuit filed Thursday claims.
The suit filed by Chiyomi Brent, a “picker” responsible for fulfilling grocery orders at the Tennessee Street facility from Amazon Prime customers, noted that since coronavirus stay-home orders have been imposed, “the demand for Amazon’s same-day and next-day delivery services has surged.”
Yet while the company has touted its “purported compliance” with government regulations and emergency orders aimed at stopping spread of the deadly virus, Amazon “has failed to implement reasonable safety protocols, placing essential workers at needless risk of Covid-19 infection and endangering public health,” alleged the suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
Amazon said in an emailed statement that it was “saddened by the tragic impact Covid-19 has had on communities across the globe, including some Amazon team members and their family and friends.” Between early March and May 1 it offered employees unlimited unpaid time off, and since May 1 it has “offered leave for those most vulnerable or who need to care for children or family members,” Amazon spokesman Timothy Carter said.
“We also invested $4 billion from April to June on COVID-related initiatives, including over $800 million in the first half of this year on safety measures like temperature checks, masks, gloves, enhanced cleaning and sanitization, extended pay and benefits options, testing, and more,” the company said.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is facing another lawsuit, filed last week, claiming that at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, N.Y., productivity requirements were among the conditions leading to coronavirus spread and the death of a plaintiff’s family member. In March, the firm fired a worker who had organized a walkout at a New York warehouse to demand more coronavirus protection. Amazon said the employee was terminated after he broke distancing rules and put others at risk.
Brent, in her lawsuit, alleged that after she complained repeatedly to the company, filed one complaint with state worker-health regulators and another with the San Francisco Police Department that led officers to inspect the warehouse and demand improvements, Amazon has continued to ignore “even basic minimum safety precautions.”
But San Francisco Police, after an initial search Thursday in response to a request from this news organization, said they had no documentation of such a visit.
Brent on March 25 emailed Amazon’s corporate office to complain about conditions in the facility, which she described in the email as “a total pig sty,” according to the lawsuit. The floor was littered with boxes, grocery products, pieces of plastic and broken bottles with their contents spilled, the suit claimed.
“Due to pickers’ high productivity quotas, they are not able to pause to clean or sanitize the work area,” the suit claimed, adding that Brent and other pickers were “told not to clean up messes and have not been instructed to sanitize the work area.” Pickers’ carts and baskets “are not sanitized or cleaned between users,” the suit alleged.
Amazon told San Francisco Police that insulated suits worn by pickers were cleaned daily, but Brent believed that to be false, the suit alleged. “Even if true, daily cleaning is still insufficient as it would still result in approximately four to 10 different pickers using the same Freezer Suit between cleanings,” the suit claimed.
Productivity quotas required pickers in the “cramped” warehouse to scan at least 60 items per hour, “even though doing so often makes it impossible to meet social distancing and sanitation protocols required by law,” the suit alleged, adding that workers were forced to “pass by each other in close proximity down narrow aisles” to meet quotas.
“Contrary to (Amazon’s) stated policy, there is no enforcement of the Social Distancing Protocol, or the enforcement is inconsistent,” the suit alleged. “Pickers occasionally remove their face coverings throughout the day due to high temperatures in certain parts of (the warehouse).”
Brent’s suit accuses Amazon of breaking state anti-competition and public-nuisance laws. She is seeking unspecified damages for herself and “all others similarly situated,” and an order barring Amazon from alleged “illegal and unsafe work practices.”
