Amazon settles for $11m with workers in unpaid bag-search wait lawsuit
(2020/05/01)
- Reference: 1588356969
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/01/amazon_security_line_settlement/
- Source link:
Amazon yesterday settled for $11m with staff at its California warehouses who'd sued it over uncompensated wait times for security checks as they began and ended shifts.
As with all settlement deals, Jeff Bezos' firm did not admit liability, the document, filed in a Kentucky federal court yesterday, confirmed.
Unfortunately for the around 200,000 workers concerned, in cases dating back to 2013, a large chunk of the settlement, $3.67m, will go to the lawyers, while the individuals involved will get a total $7.16m of the Gross Settlement Fund. You can read the settlement agreement here
In a case dating back to 2012, the Amazon employee claims arise from "uncompensated time allegedly spent waiting to undergo security screening at Amazon.com warehouse facilities in California and from other alleged violations of California law," according to court documents.
The settlement states that the parties involved agree to resolve their dispute without further litigation.
The case echoes similar litigation against [2]Apple .
In February this year, the [3]California Supreme Court ruled Apple should compensate staff for the time they spent every day having their bags checked by security. The court found it is solely in Apple's interest to make shop staff wait until their bags have been searched before being allowed to leave for the day. It ruled Apple had to pay them for their time.
The Amazon case was originally filed in the California state court, but it was later added to a case in Kentucky, combining similar cases brought by workers in Amazon distribution centres.
The lead plaintiff, Khadijah Robertson, alerted the court to the California Supreme Court's ruling earlier concerning Apple. Her lawyers argued the state's high court held that a class of Apple workers was owed pay for screening time under California law requiring that workers be paid for the time they spend under an employer's control. ®
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/05/01/amazon_settlement_agreement.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/11/apple_store_staff_shakedown_lawsuit/
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/13/apple_bagsearching_employees/
[4] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8552/how-to-accelerate-brilliant-digital-experiences-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
As with all settlement deals, Jeff Bezos' firm did not admit liability, the document, filed in a Kentucky federal court yesterday, confirmed.
Unfortunately for the around 200,000 workers concerned, in cases dating back to 2013, a large chunk of the settlement, $3.67m, will go to the lawyers, while the individuals involved will get a total $7.16m of the Gross Settlement Fund. You can read the settlement agreement here
[1]PDF
.In a case dating back to 2012, the Amazon employee claims arise from "uncompensated time allegedly spent waiting to undergo security screening at Amazon.com warehouse facilities in California and from other alleged violations of California law," according to court documents.
The settlement states that the parties involved agree to resolve their dispute without further litigation.
The case echoes similar litigation against [2]Apple .
In February this year, the [3]California Supreme Court ruled Apple should compensate staff for the time they spent every day having their bags checked by security. The court found it is solely in Apple's interest to make shop staff wait until their bags have been searched before being allowed to leave for the day. It ruled Apple had to pay them for their time.
The Amazon case was originally filed in the California state court, but it was later added to a case in Kentucky, combining similar cases brought by workers in Amazon distribution centres.
The lead plaintiff, Khadijah Robertson, alerted the court to the California Supreme Court's ruling earlier concerning Apple. Her lawyers argued the state's high court held that a class of Apple workers was owed pay for screening time under California law requiring that workers be paid for the time they spend under an employer's control. ®
Sponsored: [4]How To Accelerate Brilliant Digital Experiences With Low-Code
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/05/01/amazon_settlement_agreement.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/11/apple_store_staff_shakedown_lawsuit/
[3] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/13/apple_bagsearching_employees/
[4] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8552/how-to-accelerate-brilliant-digital-experiences-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
Re: Clearly the US need to sort their employment laws out
Anonymous Coward
Do you do stand up? American workers are slaves like all the slaves before them. Please can I be president? Sure you can little Timmy yet I'm sorry to inform you if you aren't a rapist you can't even try.
ragnar
Not much back pay then for something that dates back that many years. $7.16m / 200k = $36 each unless I've missed something. Sounds like Amazon have basically got a free pass here.
Bill 21
If Amazon aren't incentivised to reduce the time workers spend in limbo (at work, but not getting paid), they won't bother.
Clearly the US need to sort their employment laws out
So people automatically start getting paid as soon as they start work i.e. acting as an employee, to incude any time changing into uniform/PPE