More Amazon Warehouse Workers Sue Retailer Over Unpaid Security Waits

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Huffington Post

Dave Jamieson

A growing number of Amazon.com warehouse workers are suing the online retail giant and its contractors for requiring them to undergo time-consuming and unpaid security screenings in order to do their jobs.

In recent weeks, current and former workers at distribution centers in Kentucky, Tennessee and Washington state have filed four lawsuits claiming Amazon effectively shorted them on pay through warehouse security policies. In their proposed class-action suits, workers say they spent at least 40 minutes a week and often more being screened for stolen goods or contraband -- time for which they were not compensated. The most recent complaint was filed Tuesday in Kentucky.

The lawsuits come on the heels of a similar proposed class-action suit filed by Amazon warehouse temporary workers in Nevada, which HuffPost reported on earlier this year. Unlike in the Nevada case, the Seattle-based retailer is named as a defendant in the Kentucky, Tennessee and Washington lawsuits.

Collectively, the complaints suggest that Amazon's policy of forcing workers to wait in security lines without pay is common practice at its growing number of distribution centers throughout the country. The suits also reveal some of the labor penny-pinching that's enabled the world's largest online retailer to undercut competitors with such fast and cheap shipping.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/more-amazon-warehouse-workers-sue_n_3950295.html?1379590888

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More Amazon warehouse workers have sued the retailer and its contractors for forcing them to wait on security lines without pay. (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images) | Getty

[Benton D Struckcheon]

1. I don't get one thing.

Shouldn't it be relatively easy to organize Amazon? It's not like they can maintain those shipping times without the warehouse workers. Am I missing something?

[jmowreader]

3. The locations of the Amazon DCs, is what you're missing

Arizona, USA: Phoenix, Goodyear
Delaware, USA: New Castle
Indiana, USA: Whitestown, Munster
Kansas, USA: Coffeyville
Kentucky, USA: Campbellsville, Hebron (near CVG), Lexington, and Louisville
Nevada, USA: Fernley and Red Rock (near 4SD)
New Hampshire, USA: Nashua
Pennsylvania, USA: Carlisle, Chambersburg, Hazleton, and Lewisberry
Texas, USA: Dallas/Fort Worth

With the possible exception of New Hampshire, all those states are either Right-to-Work states or so far to the right there's no point in a RTW law anyway.

[Fuddnik]

9. Getting ready to add one in Tampa, Florida.

[itsrobert]

13. They have opened new ones in San Berndadino, Patterson, and coming soon

to Tracy. all in California. It was part of a deal, Gov Brown cut that makes Amazon pay sales tax too.

http://www.examiner.com/article/amazon-to-build-third-distribution-center-california

[hedgehog]

2. Next: lock up the emergency exits!

[PopeOxycontinI]

4. I worked in one...

I was subjected to this shit, as well as having a ten minute walk to the back of the building to get to
thew timeclock. They stole a half-hour a day from me. Those fucksticks also forbid you from bringing in your cellphone.
If you forget and then bring it, they have a big production to makle sure its not stolen....
as if you can really activate a new cellphone right there, anyway, assholes!
I think they are just blowing this money to humiliate the workers, rather than blow all the money on paying them.
I was treated like a criminal, then got a mystery respiratory illness from working there.
Pigs!

[LittleGirl]

5. Nobody likes being treated like a criminal

Why don't they perform background checks before hiring someone and then maybe the thief rate would be lower? If they are suspecting all employees then why don't they move the time clocks to the door way so you can go through security, while you're on the clock. After security, punch out. How difficult can this be? Good grief. Didn't anybody think of that?

[Sunlei]

6. pay the workers while you're going through their bags!

[dbackjon]

7. Another reason to shop local

Amazon is another nail in the coffin of local sales - which hurt everyone.

[lovuian]

8. I think the American people are getting fed up

with this Orwellian society.....

[madrchsod]

10. never bought anything from them ...

and never will...

[eppur_se_muova]

11. powells.com

A reason to never shop Amazon again.

[Adsos Letter]

14. Ever been to the main Powell's in Portland?

Truly a book lover's paradise!

[eppur_se_muova]

16. No -- I can only suffer the agonies of desire from afar. :)

I **wish** I were near such a place ! I've just moved to a small TN town with even less culture than the AL town I've been living in.

(When I'm searching for books, I always put "Powell's" first in the Google expression; if Powell's has it, that will be the top hit.)

[Adsos Letter]

18. About 15 years ago I spent 18 months on a job just south of Portland.

I was only able to get back home (California) about once every couple of weeks. Powell's kept me semi-sane during the days away from family.

When I was there the main store was a full city block, three stories tall. One of the great things about it was that they sold both used and new, and both were out on the shelves together. Made for great browsing!

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Nothing to say but ...

[Omaha Steve]

15. 100% unionized!

Thanks for posting!

OS

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Even better ! nt

[OhioChick]

12. Same thing happening at Apple

Apple sued by U.S. workers for unpaid wages

While Apple suppliers are again coming under fire for poor working conditions overseas, Apple itself is the target of a new lawsuit from its employees in the U.S.

In a class-action lawsuit filed last week in San Francisco federal court, two former hourly employees at Apple Stores in Los Angeles and New York are claiming violations of state labor laws and the Unfair Labor Standards Act, saying they are due lost wages for unpaid time spent having their personal bags searched.

The lawsuit claims whenever employees leave the store, whether for a break or to go home, they must wait in line for up to 15 minutes for off-the-clock inspections of personal bags and purses for stolen items. According to the two plaintiffs, the anti-theft searches added up to about an hour and a half of unpaid overtime a week — about $1,500 a year. The policy has been in effect at all Apple Stores for the past 10 years, the lawsuit says:

Apple has engaged and continues to engage in illegal and improper wage practices that have deprived Apple Hourly Employees throughout the United States of millions of dollars in wages and overtime compensation. These practices include requiring Apple Hourly Employees to wait in line and undergo two off-the-clock security bags searches and clearance checks when they leave for their meal breaks and after they have clocked out at the end of their shifts. . . . This illegal practice and policy has been known to the Defendant for years and Apple continues to require Apple Hourly Employees to endure these required but uncompensated security checks.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, but with more than 42,000 retail employees, Apple could be faced with tens of millions of dollars in potentially unpaid wages.

More: http://www.siliconbeat.com/2013/07/30/apple-sued-by-u-s-workers-for-unpaid-wages/