Former Employee Sues Amazon Over Poor Working Conditions, Racial Bias During Pandemic

A former Amazon employee has filed a class-action lawsuit against the online retailer and accused the company of violating civil rights law by firing him. The plaintiff, Chris Smalls, also alleged that the company was endangering the health of thousands of minority workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smalls seeks compensation and precautionary measures for employees who have been working in Amazon warehouses and handling deliveries. He also has accused Amazon of favoring the health and safety of managers who, as a group, were disproportionately Caucasian when compared to line workers at the fulfillment center.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. Amazon has not commented on the lawsuit.

This is not the only instance when Amazon has been under fire for its handling of the pandemic. Amazon workers across the U.S. have sent in petitions and staged protests. Growing e-commerce sales in the last six months have put additional pressure on the company, and in turn, on its employees. Amazon has clarified on its website that it has provided sanitizers, scheduled regular temperature checks, and implemented social distancing in its warehouses, but employees have called the measures unsatisfactory.

Nearly 20,000 Amazon workers tested positive for COVID-19, Amazon had announced in October.

Chris Smalls started working with Amazon in 2015, and was fired earlier this year for organizing a rally outside the Amazon facility in Staten Island to protest working conditions in Amazon facilities at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Smalls alleged that the company refused to allow workers who had been in contact with infected employees, to quarantine and supervisors also ignored federal public health guidelines. At the time of his termination, Amazon clarified that Smalls had been under quarantine and by organizing and participating in the protest, he had violated the safety guidelines.

The company reiterated the same on Thursday. “Mr. Smalls received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines. He was also 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 of 14 days. Despite that instruction, he came onsite further putting the team at risk,” Amazon spokesperson Lisa Lavandowski said, according to CNN.

Smalls claims that Amazon has implemented many of its current safety measures only after he was fired.