Amazon retaliated after staff went on strike over return-to-office insurance policies, NLRB attorneys say

In February 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy despatched an e-mail to firm staff outlining new return-to-work tips. Beforehand, particular person groups throughout the firm may resolve the place staff would work, however Jassy’s e-mail stated that beginning Could 1, 2023, most Amazon staff had been required to work within the workplace no less than three days per week. (Some positions, similar to gross sales and customer support, had been exempt.)

1000’s in response Amazon staff signed petitions in opposition to the brand new mandate and went on strike just a few months later. Regardless of protests and resistance, in line with report on InsiderAt a gathering in early August 2023, Jassy reaffirmed the corporate’s dedication to making sure staff returned to the workplace most weeks.

The NLRB criticism alleges that Amazon “interrogated” staff in regards to the strike utilizing its inside Chime system. Amazon first provided the worker a efficiency enchancment plan following their efforts to prepare a strike, after which “provided a severance bundle equal to 9 weeks’ wage if the worker signed a severance settlement and international termination in change for his termination.”

Based on NBRB attorneys, all this occurred as a result of the worker was engaged in organized exercise, and the prosecution was geared toward stopping “…protected, coordinated exercise.”

The worker’s identify within the NBRB criticism has been redacted. Final yr, Seattle Occasions profiled one of many strike organizers who, after the strike, developed a productiveness plan that the newspaper says is “infamous for being nearly inconceivable to evade.” Particulars of how investigators interviewed this explicit man for allegedly telling different staff to “be mad at Amazon” are talked about in each the criticism and the article.

The NLRB’s normal counsel is looking for a number of completely different types of damages from Amazon, together with reimbursement for the worker’s “monetary damages and job search and employment bills,” a letter of apology, and a “Discover to Staff” that should be bodily posted on the firm’s amenities. nationwide, distributed electronically and skim by an Amazon consultant on a recorded video convention. The content material of the “Discover to Staff” will not be specified.

Amazon responded as we speak to the NLRB criticism, and Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson, shared the next assertion with Edge:

“The information of this example are clear and don’t have anything to do with whether or not this former worker opposed our return to the workplace. For nearly a yr, she consistently fell behind others and repeatedly failed to finish the tasks assigned to her. Regardless of intensive help and coaching, the previous worker was unable to enhance her efficiency and determined to depart the corporate.”

If Amazon and the worker don’t attain an settlement, a listening to earlier than an NLRB administrative legislation decide (ALJ) is scheduled in Seattle on February 4, 2025.