James, New York State Attorney General, Sues Amazon for 'Violation of COVID-19 Safety Guidelines'

Letitia James New York State Attorney General [Photo by AP]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Letitia James, the New York State Attorney General, filed a lawsuit against Amazon on the 16th (local time). The reason was that Amazon failed to follow safety protocols to protect employees from the COVID-19 virus.

In the complaint submitted to the New York State court in Manhattan on the same day, Attorney General James claimed that it was clearly confirmed that Amazon did not properly implement COVID-19 safety measures at two of its logistics warehouses. The two warehouses cited for violating safety protocols are located in Staten Island and Queens, respectively.

At the Staten Island warehouse, employee protests over working conditions occurred in March of last year. At that time, Amazon was investigated by New York City authorities.

James also alleged that Amazon retaliated against employees dissatisfied with working conditions, including firing an employee named Christian Smalls who led the protests.

James argued that Amazon repeatedly failed to comply with safety protocols and demanded that Amazon adhere to workplace safety rules going forward, reinstate the fired Smalls, and compensate him and other employees.

Anticipating James’s lawsuit, Amazon filed a motion in federal court in Brooklyn four days earlier to nullify the Attorney General’s complaint.

In the motion, Amazon argued that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act takes precedence over New York State’s workplace safety regulations and that Attorney General James is currently abusing her power.

Kelly Nantel, Amazon’s spokesperson, stated, "Amazon cares deeply about employee health and safety, and the details regarding this are thoroughly outlined in the motion submitted to the Brooklyn federal court."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.