Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
California Wants Amazon to Answer on Warehouse Worker Safety During Pandemic
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
December 14, 2020

Share

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Monday asked a judge to order Amazon to comply with subpoenas his office issued nearly four months ago as part of an investigation into how the company is protecting workers from the coronavirus at its facilities.

Becerra said the online sales giant hasn’t provided enough information on its coronavirus safety steps and the status of infections and deaths at its shipping facilities across California. The attorney general is President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to be the first Latino to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

“We’re investigating because we got reports, information, complaints about conditions, incidents,” Becerra said. While the investigation is ongoing, “we believe that it merits looking into Amazon’s protocols, practices, based on information that we have received.”

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment left through an email that the company provides for members of the media.

Becerra wants a Sacramento County Superior Court judge to find that the company hasn’t given specific details on its coronavirus prevention efforts in response to subpoenas issued Aug. 19, including its sick leave policies and cleaning procedures. He also wants access to the company’s raw data on the number of infections and deaths at its facilities in California.

“We urgently need to know about complaints made by Amazon associates to the company about working conditions, potential retaliation taken against employees who raise these workplace safety concerns,” he said. ”We don’t have time to drag our feet…our state finds itself in the thick of this pandemic.”

His office wants to know which facilities have the highest infection rates, how the company defines which employees have been diagnosed with the virus, any contacts it has had with health officials, and documents related to any lawsuits or investigations by either individuals or other agencies.

The Company Projects Sales Will Top $100 Billion in the Final Quarter of 2020

Becerra routinely declines comment on ongoing investigations, but called a virtual news conference to criticize Amazon for making billions of dollars during the pandemic as consumers increasingly turn to online purchases over brick-and-mortar stores — profits that he said are built on the labor of employees who put themselves at risk.

The company projects sales will top $100 billion in the final quarter of 2020, and in the third quarter “its revenues soared while its profits tripled compared to 2019,” Becerra said.

“While Amazon continues to operate profitably, it has been less than forthcoming about its operations and its practices to protect its workers.”

He said the subpoenas followed months of informal communications with the company over its health and safety policies.

The company has missed several chances to comply, he said, but he said the investigation is continuing and he has made no decision on whether its practices are adequate — in part because he has not received enough information from the company.

The probe began last spring, his office said in seeking the court order, and officials first sent Amazon a letter in May seeking information. Becerra’s court filing lists media reports about three Amazon workers’ deaths, but said the company mentioned none of them in its responses.

Becerra’s office first publicly disclosed the investigation in a court filing in July in a San Francisco Superior Court case in which an employee accused the company of not doing enough to safeguard staff, such as requiring social distancing and cleaning equipment.

Cal-OSHA, more formally the known as Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health have also launched investigations, according to that court filing. Officials in other states have also launched investigations into Amazon workers’ complaints.

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

DON'T MISS

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

DON'T MISS

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

DON'T MISS

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

DON'T MISS

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

DON'T MISS

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

DON'T MISS

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

UP NEXT

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

UP NEXT

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

UP NEXT

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

UP NEXT

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

UP NEXT

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

UP NEXT

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

UP NEXT

Can CEMEX Dig a 600-Foot Hole and Not Harm the River? Arambula Says No and Writes a Bill

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Destiny Christine Brown

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

1 hour ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

2 hours ago

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

2 hours ago

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

2 hours ago

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

3 hours ago

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

3 hours ago

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

3 hours ago

Can CEMEX Dig a 600-Foot Hole and Not Harm the River? Arambula Says No and Writes a Bill

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Destiny Christine Brown

5 hours ago

Three Missing Fresno Teens Found Safe After Nine Days

5 hours ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

After 31 years of dedicated service, a long-serving pilot is retiring from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the department held a last...

11 minutes ago

After 31 years of service, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy IV and Pilot Michael Sill is retiring, having logged over 10,000 flight hours.
11 minutes ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
43 minutes ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

48 minutes ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

1 hour ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

Vehicles at an Audi showroom in Miami, March 29, 2025. President Donald Trump has said that tariffs would encourage auto companies and their suppliers to move to the U.S. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

Vehicles are passed through final inspection at the end of the assembly line at the General Motors facility in Spring Hill, Tenn., Oct. 7, 2024. Sales of cars picked up recently partly as buyers rushed to lock in deals before President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on cars and auto parts go into effect. (Brett Carlsen/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

2 hours ago

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., takes questions on tariffs while meeting with reporters at a news conference, at the Capitol, in Washington, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
3 hours ago

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend