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On Tuesday, California labor regulators explain it is fined Amazon It was fined nearly $6 million for violating state laws designed to limit the use of onerous warehouse productivity quotas.
The California Labor Commissioner’s Office said it investigated two Amazon facilities in Moreno Valley and Redlands, east of Los Angeles, and found 59,017 violations of the state’s warehouse quota law, officials said. Productivity quotas have become a common source of consternation for Amazon workers.
The Warehouse Quota Act, which takes effect in 2022, requires employers to disclose productivity quotas to employees and government agencies, as well as any discipline workers may face for not meeting those quotas. The law also prohibits employers from requiring warehouse workers to meet unsafe quotas, preventing them from taking state-mandated meal and rest breaks or using the bathroom.
The Labor Commissioner’s Office said Tuesday that Amazon “failed to provide written notice” of the quota. The company argued it didn’t need quotas because it uses a “peer evaluation system,” officials said.
“The peer-to-peer system Amazon is using at these two warehouses is exactly the kind of system that warehouse quota laws are designed to prevent,” Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said in a statement.
Amazon has faced scrutiny in recent years for its treatment of warehouse and delivery workers. Regulators and critics are particularly concerned about the pace of work, arguing that speed requirements put workers at greater risk of injury.
2022 Washington Safety Regulators fined Amazon “knowingly” violated workplace safety laws by requiring employees to work at such a fast pace that it put them at higher risk for musculoskeletal disorders or problems, such as sprains and strains often caused by repetitive tasks.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also repeatedly cited Amazon for safety violations. Amazon said it would appeal all charges.
States including New York, Washington and Minnesota have passed similar regulations, and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced a federal bill last month.
Amazon, the second largest private employer in the United States, has previously said it does not use fixed quotas. Instead, the company said it relies on “performance expectations” that consider multiple metrics, such as the performance of certain teams at a location. There has also been controversy over allegations that employees have insufficient rest breaks.
Amazon also defended its safety record. The company said in March that its injury rate had improved and announced planned investment Security measures exceed $750 million this year.
Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel said the company disagreed with the charges and had appealed.
“The truth is, we don’t have a fixed quota,” she wrote in an email. “At Amazon, individual performance is evaluated against the performance of the entire site team over an extended period of time. Employees can and are encouraged to review their performance at any time. If they wish, they can always talk to a manager. When information can’t be found Encounter difficulties.
watch: Amazon’s worker safety concerns come under heavy criticism from regulators, Justice Department
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