[US] Amazon fined $5.9 million for 59,000 California labour law violations

On June 18 in the US, California’s labour regulator announced that it had fined Amazon nearly $6 million for violating a state law intended to limit the use of burdensome warehouse productivity quotas, CNBC reports.

The California Labor Commissioner’s Office said it had investigated two Amazon facilities in Moreno Valley and Redlands, east of Los Angeles. 

Officials reportedly said 59,017 violations of the state’s Warehouse Quotas law were found. Productivity quotas have become a battleground for Amazon workers.

The Warehouse Quotas law went into effect in 2022. It requires employers to disclose productivity quotas to employees and government agencies together with any disciplinary measures workers could face for not meeting them. The law also prohibits employers from requiring warehouse employees to meet unsafe quotas preventing them from taking state-mandated meal and rest breaks or using the bathroom.

In its announcement,  the Labor Commissioner’s office said Amazon “failed to provide written notice of quotas”. The online giant had argued that it doesn’t need quotas because it uses a “peer-to-peer evaluation system,” officials said.

“The peer-to-peer system that Amazon was using in these two warehouses is exactly the kind of system that the Warehouse Quotas law was put in place to prevent,” Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said in a statement.

In recent years Amazon has been scrutinised for how it treats its warehouse and delivery employees. Regulators and critics have specifically cited the pace of work, claiming that the speed requirements put workers at greater risk of injury.

In 2022, Washington safety regulators fined Amazon for “willfully” violating workplace safety laws by requiring employees to work at a pace fast enough to put them at higher risk of musculoskeletal disorders or problems such as sprains and strains often caused by repetitive tasks.

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Amazon numerous times for safety violations. Amazon has reportedly said it would appeal all the citations.

Maureen Lynch Vogel - an Amazon spokesperson - said the company disagrees with the allegations and has filed an appeal.

“The truth is, we don’t have fixed quotas,” Ms Lynch Vogel wrote in an email. “At Amazon, individual performance is evaluated over a long period of time, in relation to how the entire site’s team is performing. Employees can – and are encouraged to – review their performance whenever they wish. They can always talk to a manager if they’re having trouble finding the information.”

Source: CNBC

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

On June 18 in the US, California’s labour regulator announced that it had fined Amazon nearly $6 million for violating a state law intended to limit the use of burdensome warehouse productivity quotas, CNBC reports.

The California Labor Commissioner’s Office said it had investigated two Amazon facilities in Moreno Valley and Redlands, east of Los Angeles. 

Officials reportedly said 59,017 violations of the state’s Warehouse Quotas law were found. Productivity quotas have become a battleground for Amazon workers.

The Warehouse Quotas law went into effect in 2022. It requires employers to disclose productivity quotas to employees and government agencies together with any disciplinary measures workers could face for not meeting them. The law also prohibits employers from requiring warehouse employees to meet unsafe quotas preventing them from taking state-mandated meal and rest breaks or using the bathroom.

In its announcement,  the Labor Commissioner’s office said Amazon “failed to provide written notice of quotas”. The online giant had argued that it doesn’t need quotas because it uses a “peer-to-peer evaluation system,” officials said.

“The peer-to-peer system that Amazon was using in these two warehouses is exactly the kind of system that the Warehouse Quotas law was put in place to prevent,” Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said in a statement.

In recent years Amazon has been scrutinised for how it treats its warehouse and delivery employees. Regulators and critics have specifically cited the pace of work, claiming that the speed requirements put workers at greater risk of injury.

In 2022, Washington safety regulators fined Amazon for “willfully” violating workplace safety laws by requiring employees to work at a pace fast enough to put them at higher risk of musculoskeletal disorders or problems such as sprains and strains often caused by repetitive tasks.

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Amazon numerous times for safety violations. Amazon has reportedly said it would appeal all the citations.

Maureen Lynch Vogel - an Amazon spokesperson - said the company disagrees with the allegations and has filed an appeal.

“The truth is, we don’t have fixed quotas,” Ms Lynch Vogel wrote in an email. “At Amazon, individual performance is evaluated over a long period of time, in relation to how the entire site’s team is performing. Employees can – and are encouraged to – review their performance whenever they wish. They can always talk to a manager if they’re having trouble finding the information.”

Source: CNBC

(Links and quotes via original reporting)