NY’s Attorney General Sues Amazon Over ‘Flagrant Disregard’ of COVID-19 Workplace Safety
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Amazon on Tuesday, claiming the massive e-commerce company’s “flagrant disregard for health and safety requirements” during the coronavirus pandemic put the lives of workers and the general public at risk.
She accused the company of shoddy contact tracing and poor cleaning — both designed to prevent the spread of the virus — at two New York facilities: a Staten Island fulfillment center and a Queens distribution center. A worker at the State Island plant warehouse died of COVID-19.
The Staten Island facility employs about 5,000 workers, and the Queens distribution center employs several hundred workers — most of whom were deemed essential during the pandemic, the filing says.
New York’s lawsuit follows one filed by Amazon — in a Brooklyn federal court — trying to prevent James from filing her own. The company argues that federal labor and safety laws take precedence over New York’s laws, meaning James would not have the legal authority to sue Amazon for workplace safety violations.
