An
Amazon
warehouse
Getty
Images
California’s
labor
regulator
on
Tuesday
said
it
fined
Amazon
nearly
$6
million
for
violating
a
state
law
aimed
at
curtailing
the
use
of
onerous
warehouse
productivity
quotas.
The
California
Labor
Commissioner’s
Office
said
it
investigated
two
Amazon
facilities
in
Moreno
Valley
and
Redlands,
both
located
east
of
Los
Angeles,
and
found
59,017
violations
of
the
state’s
Warehouse
Quotas
law,
officials
said.
Productivity
quotas
have
become
a
common
source
of
consternation
among
Amazon
workers.
The
Warehouse
Quotas
law
went
into
effect
in
2022
and
requires
employers
to
disclose
productivity
quotas
to
employees
and
government
agencies,
as
well
as
any
discipline
workers
may
face
for
not
meeting
them.
The
law
also
prohibits
employers
from
requiring
warehouse
employees
to
meet
unsafe
quotas
preventing
them
from
taking
state-mandated
meal
and
rest
breaks
or
using
the
bathroom.
Amazon
“failed
to
provide
written
notice
of
quotas,”
the
Labor
Commissioner’s
office
said
Tuesday.
The
company
argued
it
doesn’t
need
quotas
because
it
uses
a
“peer-to-peer
evaluation
system,”
officials
said.
“The
peer-to-peer
system
that
Amazon
was
using
in
these
two
warehouses
is
exactly
the
kind
of
system
that
the
Warehouse
Quotas
law
was
put
in
place
to
prevent,”
Labor
Commissioner
Lilia
Garcia-Brower
said
in
a
statement.
Amazon
has
in
recent
years
faced
scrutiny
over
how
it
treats
its
warehouse
and
delivery
employees.
Regulators
and
critics
have
specifically
zeroed
in
on
the
pace
of
work,
arguing
that
the
speed
requirements
put
workers
at
greater
risk
of
injury.
Washington
safety
regulators
in
2022
fined
Amazon
for
“willfully”
violating
workplace
safety
laws
by
requiring
employees
to
work
at
such
a
fast
pace
that
it
put
them
at
higher
risk
of
musculoskeletal
disorders
or
problems
such
as
sprains
and
strains
often
caused
by
repetitive
tasks.
The
Labor
Department’s
Occupational
Safety
and
Health
Administration
has
also
cited
Amazon
numerous
times
for
safety
violations.
Amazon
has
said
it
would
appeal
all
the
citations.
States
including
New
York,
Washington
and
Minnesota
have
passed
similar
regulations,
and
a
federal
bill
was
introduced
last
month
by
Sen.
Ed
Markey,
D-Mass.
Amazon,
the
second-largest
private
employer
in
the
U.S.,
has
previously
said
it
doesn’t
use
fixed
quotas.
Rather,
the
company
said,
it
relies
on
“performance
expectations”
that
factor
in
multiple
indicators,
such
as
how
certain
teams
at
a
site
are
performing.
It’s
also
disputed
allegations
that
employees
don’t
get
enough
breaks.
Amazon
has
also
defended
its
safety
record.
The
company
said
in
March
that
its
injury
rates
have
improved,
and
it
announced
plans
to
invest
more
than
$750
million
in
safety
initiatives
this
year.
Maureen
Lynch
Vogel,
an
Amazon
spokesperson,
said
the
company
disagrees
with
the
allegations
and
has
filed
an
appeal.
“The
truth
is,
we
don’t
have
fixed
quotas,”
she
wrote
in
an
email.
“At
Amazon,
individual
performance
is
evaluated
over
a
long
period
of
time,
in
relation
to
how
the
entire
site’s
team
is
performing.
Employees
can
–
and
are
encouraged
to
–
review
their
performance
whenever
they
wish.
They
can
always
talk
to
a
manager
if
they’re
having
trouble
finding
the
information.”
WATCH: Amazon’s
worker
safety
hazards
come
under
fire
from
regulators
and
the
DOJ
watch
now
