The state of New Jersey is suing retail giant Amazon for allegedly violating the rights of pregnant workers and workers with disabilities in a systematic fashion at their warehouses.
In a criminal complaint released on Wednesday, Oct. 22, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and other state leaders explained that the alleged incidents happened in the company’s warehouses and shared examples of allegations.
According to officials, Amazon has a history of putting workers on leave without pay as the company reviews their requests for accommodations.
Meanwhile, a majority of requested accommodations are denied before Amazon reviews alternative solutions that could help the worker, officials said. According to investigators, the company often won’t respond to the worker and will leave them in the dark.
In some instances, the company allegedly fired a worker who requested the accommodation days or weeks after the request was submitted.
The state also accused Amazon of approving requested accommodations but then keeping their strict productivity requirements for that worker. This led to some employees facing termination by the company for not reaching set goals, according to the lawsuit.
Amazon is also accused of having an illegally short seven-day deadline for the worker to provide necessary documentation for their claims and shutting down the request before any action could be taken by the worker.
“There is no excuse for Amazon’s shameful treatment of pregnant workers and workers with disabilities. Amazon’s egregious conduct has caused enormous damage to pregnant workers and workers with disabilities in our state, and it must stop now,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
Allegations of discrimination at NJ Amazon warehouses
There are at least five allegations of Amazon discriminating against pregnant workers and employees with disabilities at their New Jersey warehouses in the criminal complaint released on Wednesday.
In one case, officials said that a pregnant worker asked for a wheelchair before she was placed on unpaid leave while the company reviewed her request.
Another worker was told she would be “automatically placed under [a] leave of absence” because the place where she was working would be “unable to accommodate your restrictions.”
In a third instance, an employee told Amazon that they were struggling to lift heavy objects and had trouble “reaching for things [on] the highest shelf” due to a disability. Amazon is accused of firing this employee rather than assisting with an accommodation.
Another pregnant worker sought accommodation from Amazon to not lift heavy objects because she was “at a high risk of having a miscarriage,” according to the criminal complaint. In this case, the company allegedly closed out the request because the worker did not submit paperwork within Amazon’s seven day deadline.
In a fifth example, the lawsuit states that while Amazon approved a pregnant worker’s request for extra breaks and restricted her from picking up anything over 15 pounds, they later fired her after she was unable to meet the productivity numbers set by the company. The lawsuit states the employee couldn’t meet those productivity numbers due to her approved restrictions.
According to the criminal complaint, the state of New Jersey wants an injunction to stop Amazon from “discriminating against pregnant workers and workers with disabilities.” The state is hoping to compensation for the impacted workers “for lost wages and benefits, humiliation, emotional distress and mental pain and anguish caused by Amazon’s unlawful conduct.”
NBC10 reached out to Amazon for a response to the allegations. We will include a statement as soon as we receive one.
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