Amazon facilities are being inspected by federal prosecutors in New York and the Department of Labor as part of a civil probe investigating hazardous and unethical employment conditions.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the inspections started on Monday morning.
“This morning, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration entered Amazon warehouses outside New York City, Chicago, and Orlando to conduct workplace safety inspections in response to referrals received from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York concerning potential workplace hazards related, among other things, to Amazon’s required pace of work for its warehouse employees,” a spokesman for the office, Nicholas Biase, said in a statement.
“The Civil Division of the SDNY is investigating potential worker safety hazards at Amazon warehouses across the country, as well as possible fraudulent conduct designed to hide injuries from OSHA and others,” Biase added.
A U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson told ABC News: “OSHA received referrals from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York regarding allegations of safety and health violations at several Amazon facilities. We routinely receive referrals from various federal agencies, law enforcement, advocacy groups, and others.”
The spokesperson added, “Acting on the referrals, OSHA has opened inspections at Amazon workplaces in New York, Illinois, and Florida. Because these are active investigations, we cannot provide more information at this time.”
Employees in Amazon warehouses have voiced complaints about the relentless pace, oppressive heat, and risk of injury.
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York State, recently filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the company failed to protect its employees from COVID-19.
The practice of drivers urinating in plastic bottles and skipping toilet breaks to reach quotas was initially documented in James Bloodworth’s 2018 book, “Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain.”
Amazon initially refuted the claim but later acknowledged it in a blog post from 2021, saying, “We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during COVID when many public restrooms have been closed.”
Due to the complaints, some Amazon employees attempted to unionize, with varying degrees of success.
The U.S. Attorney’s office recommended the Justice Department’s website to members of the public who wanted to report problems with worker safety and injuries at Amazon warehouses.
Current and former Amazon warehouse employees were urged to contact the SDNY if they knew safety concerns, including those relating to the pace of work, a failure to report injuries, or if they had been hurt and received inadequate care at Amazon’s on-site first-aid center or at a clinic Amazon recommended.
