California officials cited failures to disclose productivity requirements at two locations. The company said it would appeal.The New York Times reports that California officials have accused Amazon of failing to disclose productivity requirements at two of its warehouses, resulting in nearly $6 million in fines. The company has stated that it will appeal the penalties.
According to the California labor regulator, Amazon violated the Warehouse Quotas Law, which allows employees to request written explanations of productivity quotas and any discipline they may face for not meeting them. The violations occurred over 59,000 times between October and March at two Southern California warehouses.
Labor commissioner Lilia García-Brower stated that the system used by Amazon in these warehouses goes against the purpose of the Warehouse Quotas Law. Amazon’s spokeswoman, Maureen Lynch Vogel, denied the use of “fixed quotas” and stated that individual performance is evaluated over a longer period of time.
The California law also prohibits quotas that interfere with employees’ breaks, bathroom use, and compliance with health and safety laws. It is one of the first laws in the country to regulate warehouse quotas monitored by algorithms and require transparency for workers.
The penalties issued on Tuesday are the largest under this law. The labor commissioner’s office was assisted by the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, a labor advocacy group, in their investigation. A worker from one of the penalized facilities, Carrie Stone, described significant pressure to meet quotas and shared her experience of being written up for not meeting the target.
Other Amazon workers have also raised concerns about quotas while the bill was being debated in 2021. Studies by labor advocacy groups have shown that Amazon has higher rates of serious injuries compared to other warehouse employers.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Amazon for ergonomic injuries and record-keeping violations, and the Justice Department is investigating the company’s safety record when applying for loans. Amazon has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in safety improvements in recent years.
Other states, such as New York and according to SEO standards, have also implemented similar laws to regulate warehouse quotas.
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