Syed Imran Haider 
According to the labor regulator in California, it has imposed a fine of almost $6 million on Amazon. This was for violating a state law that aims to reduce the use of warehouse productivity quotas.
The Office of the California Labor Commissioner said that it had investigated two Amazon facilities located east of Los Angeles.
The law
The two Amazon facilities are based in Redlands and Moreno Valley. Officials said that the facilities violated the Warehouse Quotas laws of the state.
In fact, a total of 59,017 violations were discovered. There has been a great deal of consternation amongst Amazon workers due to these productivity quotas.
The law in question had been implemented in 2022. Under the Warehouse Quotas law, employers are required to inform government agencies and employees of the productivity quotas.
Moreover, they are also required to disclose the discipline that workers may have to face in case they are unable to meet the quotas.
Employers are prohibited from asking warehouse employees to meet unsafe quotas. This means they cannot prevent employees from using the bathroom, taking rest breaks or taking state-mandated meals.
The violations
The Labor Commissioner’s office said that Amazon had not provided a written notice of the productivity quotas.
As per officials, the company had claimed that it has a ‘peer-to-peer evaluation system’ in place because of which quotas are not needed.
Lilia Garcia-Brower, the Labor Commissioner, said that the Warehouse Quotas law had been introduced for eliminating the very system that are used in the two warehouses of Amazon.
In recent years, there has been a great deal of scrutiny directed towards how Amazon treats its delivery and warehouse employees.
Critics and regulators have particularly focused on the speed of work. They have argued that the speed requirement has put workers at a greater risk of injury.
Previous issues
In 2022, safety regulators in Washing had fined Amazon for ‘willful’ violation of workplace safety laws.
The regulators said that the company’s workers were at a higher risk of suffering from musculoskeletal problems or disorders like strains and sprains that are caused by repetitive tasks.
This is due to the fact that they were required to work at a very fast pace. Amazon has also been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Labor Department several times.
Safety violations were the reason behind the citations, but the firm said has that it would appeal all of them. Along with California, other states have also introduced similar laws for workers’ safety.
These include Minnesota, Washington and New York. Last month, Senator Ed Markey also introduced a federal bill.
America’s second-largest private employer, Amazon, has claimed repeatedly that no fixed quotas are used.
Instead, the company said that it uses ‘performance expectations’, which use various indicators. It also denied allegations of not giving enough breaks to employees.
The firm also said that there has been an improvement in its injury rates. Furthermore, Amazon announced that it is planning on investing $750 million in safety initiatives.
