One of the companies that has benefited the most from the pandemic of Covid-19 is Amazon. Without being able to leave home millions of people found in the giant of electronic commerce the best option to acquire the items they needed. This implied the hiring of new workers and the fact that its workforce could not stay at home during the most critical days of the pandemic, one of the reasons why New York is suing the company.
The attorney general from the state of New York, Letitia James, decided to sue Amazon on the grounds that it did not take sufficient measures to protect its workers, especially during the worst moments of the Amazon pandemic. coronavirus.
“Throughout this historic pandemic, Amazon has failed repeatedly in fulfilling its obligations to institute reasonable and adequate measures to protect its workers and prevent the spread of the virus at its facilities in New York City, “said James in his lawsuit filed with the state Supreme Court.
Amazon said in a statement that it does not consider that the attorney general’s lawsuit presents an accurate picture of the response of Amazon in the pandemic. Furthermore, he argues that James does not have the power to force him to take measures that reinforce the protection of workers, as it is governed by federal laws.
However, according to the New York State lawsuit, Amazon was at fault such as not properly disinfecting their facilities, failing to notify when a worker was infected and, furthermore, refused to close facilities to perform cleanings after workers tested positive for Covid-19.
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Likewise, he criticizes that the online commerce multinational for “fire and punish” employees who objected to the working conditions imposed during the pandemic.
In James’ opinion, the company’s response to the pandemic continues to be deficient and occurs while the multinational founded by Jeff Bezos accumulates “exponential growth and benefits at the expense of lives, health and safety of its workers “.
The attorney general said that since last March “it is clear that Amazon has placed more value on profits than on people and has failed to ensure health and safety of its workers “and regretted that the workers who make the country work” are the worst treated. “
It should be noted that James began his investigation into Amazon’s labor practices in New York last year following the firing of Christian Smalls, one of the employees at his Staten Island facility who publicly demanded to improve worker protections at the beginning of the pandemic.
Amazon’s response
In anticipation of James’ lawsuit, Amazon filed a lawsuit last Friday against the attorney general herself, accusing her of not taking into account the information that the company provided her on the treatment of employees during the pandemic.
Likewise, during 2020, in its financial reports the company also detailed that the esanitary emergency It had forced her to spend on supplies and practices that are not normally needed, which involved millions of dollars.
In October 2020, in its quarterly report, Amazon said it was estimating spending $ 4 billion in Covid-19-related costs to end the year. The calculation was made considering that, until September of that year, the e-commerce giant had registered 7.5 billion in expenses related to the pandemic, since the disease began to affect the markets.
Amazon clarified that the costs are related to productivity losses caused by modifying the way the company operates, as well as expenses related to personal protective equipment and others.
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