Amazon loses lawsuit again! Ordered to pay $13.5 million

According to foreign media reports, the labor dispute case regarding Amazon's mandatory safety checks on employees has come to an end and the results have been announced. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Amazon must compensate its warehouse workers for the mandatory safety checks they perform after each shift.

Regarding compensation, according to the court's decision, Amazon will need to pay $13.5 million in compensation to more than 42,000 employees involved in the case to make up for the mandatory inspection time taken up by Amazon.

As early as 2013, Amazon warehouse workers filed a lawsuit against Amazon, saying that they spent an average of four to eight minutes doing safety checks after their shifts ended , but Amazon did not pay them for this time , which violated the minimum wage and overtime requirements in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and state laws.

Amazon said that the time employees spend on security checks does not count as working time, and therefore refused to pay them for that time.

But the court ultimately rejected Amazon's argument, rejecting Amazon's point of view with a 5-2 majority opinion, determining that the time employees spent waiting and undergoing security checks was working time under Pennsylvania law, and requiring Amazon to compensate for it.

In fact, this is not the first time that Amazon has been sued for its employees performing safety inspections without pay, but the court's verdicts have been inconsistent.

As early as 2014, in a lawsuit involving Amazon warehouse workers in Nevada, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that under the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), Amazon's safety inspections were unpaid because the safety inspections were equivalent to one of the conditions attached to the workers' primary job responsibilities.

It can be seen that different states have different applicable laws. In general, it is a good thing that the case was successfully resolved and the employees' legal wages were protected.

However, such incidents at Amazon will inevitably affect the enthusiasm of warehouse employees and have a certain impact on the speed of goods being put on the shelves , which is also an issue that sellers cannot ignore. In addition, as various financial disputes between Amazon and its employees emerge in an endless stream, I hope Amazon will pay attention to it. After all, harmonious employee relations can promote the healthy development of the company.

Amazon

Compensation

Dispute Case