Letter to Jeff Bezos, President, CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. - Warren, Sanders, Booker, Brown & Colleagues Call for More Information from Jeff Bezos on Amazon's Firing of Whistleblowers

Letter

Dear Mr. Bezos:

We are writing to seek information about your company's policies for discipline and
termination regarding workers who raise health and safety concerns. Since the coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began, Amazon has fired at least four Amazon workers who
had publicly raised concerns about safety conditions in Amazon warehouses. In order to
understand how the termination of employees that raised concerns about health and safety
conditions did not constitute retaliation for whistleblowing, we are requesting information about
Amazon's policies regarding grounds for employee discipline and termination.

Since the pandemic began, there have been at least four public reports of cases where
Amazon has fired workers following their public whistleblowing:

 Christian Smalls worked for Amazon for five years at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, where at least one employee has tested positive for COVID-19. Mr. Smalls had been "trying to persuade senior warehouse officials to close the building and sterilize it, but to no avail" due to the coronavirus exposure at his job site.3 When management did not respond, Mr. Smalls helped organized a walkout, calling on Amazon to close the facility so it could be deep cleaned.4 Amazon fired Mr. Smalls after the walkout -- and
then designed a public relations strategy which, according to a leaked memo, called for
"strongly laying out the case for why the organizer's conduct was immoral, unacceptable,
and arguably illegal, in detail, and only then follow with our usual talking points about
worker safety."5 Vice reports that Amazon executives discussed "us[ing] Smalls to discredit the wider labor movement at Amazon," where workers had sought to unionize in 2018."

Bashir Mohamed worked at a warehouse in Shakopee, Minnesota. Amazon fired him
earlier this month. Mr. Mohamed had been raising concerns about "the impossibility of
practicing social distancing in the facility." He was given a ""final warning' in late
March for allegedly not following the recommendation for six feet of social distancing
while speaking to a colleague in the parking lot."9 Amazon told the press, "We respect
the rights of employees to protest and recognize their legal right to do so; however, these
rights do not provide blanket immunity against bad actions, particularly those that
endanger the health, wellbeing or safety of their colleagues."

Maren Costa worked as a user experience designer for Amazon for more than 15 years.
Maren was a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, and had been publicly
supporting warehouse workers' advocacy, including offering to match donations "to
support [her] Amazon warehouse colleagues and their communities, while they struggle
to get consistent, sufficient protections and procedures from [Amazon]."12 Amazon said
Ms. Costa was fired for "repeatedly violating internal policies" regarding external
communications.13 Amazon told press, "We support every employee's right to criticize
their employer's working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity
against any and all internal policies."

Emily Cunningham worked as a user experience designer for Amazon for more than five
years, and was also a member of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.
Ms. Cunningham had circulated a petition calling on Amazon to "expand sick leave, hazard
pay and child care for warehouse workers," and "temporarily shut down facilities where workers were confirmed to have the virus so the facilities could be sterilized." Amazon issued the same statement for Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Costa's firing.

Amazon has closed some warehouses for 48 hours for deep cleaning after employees test
positive for coronavirus,18 but these safety responses have not been sufficient. To date, more than
100 Amazon warehouses have reportedly had positive coronavirus cases, according to internal
tracking by United for Respect.
19 At least three Amazon warehouse employees have died from
COVID-19,
20 including a worker in the facility where Mr. Smalls was fighting for safety
protections.
21 Amazon tech and warehouse workers held "sick out" day protests over the week of
April 20 to protest safety conditions in warehouses and fulfillment centers -- more than 300
warehouse workers representing dozens of warehouses pledged to call out of work.22 On May 4,
an Amazon Vice President announced he had resigned "in dismay at Amazon firing
whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19."23
In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear ordered Amazon to keep a warehouse closed for an
additional week beyond the 48 hour period for further cleaning, after three workers tested
positive for coronavirus.
24 A New Jersey mayor has called on Amazon to close a warehouse in
Middlesex County after more than 30 employees reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.25
This problem spans your facilities around the country, and the world: all Amazon warehouses in France are currently closed "after an appeals court upheld a ruling saying the company hadn't
done enough to protect workers from the coronavirus."26
Employers have a statutory duty to ensure workplaces are "free from recognized hazards
that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm" to employees."27 In
addition, once an employee has filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Hazard
Administration, "no person shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against" the
employee.28 The federal government advises workers: "If you have concerns, you have the right
to speak up about them without fear of retaliation."29
Given the clear public history of these four workers' advocacy on behalf of health and
safety conditions for workers in Amazon warehouses preceding their terminations, and
Amazon's vague public statements regarding violations of "internal policies," we are seeking
additional information to understand exactly what those internal policies are. We request your
response to the following questions no later than May 20, 2020:
1. Do Amazon tech workers, Amazon warehouse workers, and Amazon executives have
the same discipline and termination policies?
2. What "external communications" constitute a disciplinary violation for Amazon
employees?
3. What internal policies dictate the difference between an "employee's right to criticize
their employer's working conditions" and when criticizing working conditions
violates "internal policies"?
a. How are employees informed of these policies?
b. Are these policies made available in multiple languages? If so, which
languages?
c. Please provide a copy of the policy documents.
4. What are grounds for termination for Amazon employees? Does Amazon consider
raising concerns about health and safety conditions grounds for termination? Please
provide a copy of the documents that outline these policies.
5. Under what circumstances does Amazon give employees "warning[s]" prior to
termination? How many warnings are given? Please provide a copy of the documents
that outlines these policies.
6. When a worker receives a "warning," how is this warning documented internally, and
how is it communicated to the employee receiving the warning?
7. It was recently reported that Amazon's Whole Foods is doing assessments of
"external risks," "store risks" and "team member sentiment" to assess potential
unionization activity.
30 Is Amazon currently doing, or has Amazon previously done,
any type of similar assessments for warehouses?
8. Does Amazon do any type of analyses or internal tracking to identify or monitor
workers that may be organizing, planning strikes, or talking to the media?
9. Does Amazon document which workers participate in walk-outs, strikes, or other
organizing activities? If so, who is responsible for doing this, and how is this
information recorded?
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.

Sincerely,