Amazon and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have reached a settlement that resolves various cases alleging ergonomic failures that risked serious lower back and other musculoskeletal disorders at the e-commerce giant’s facilities, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a press release Thursday.
The agreement applies corporate-wide and concludes, for now, “the first major multi-site investigation brought by OSHA in over a decade,” per the release.
Before the settlement, trials in 10 cases before OSHA’s review commission, involving inspections at 10 Amazon facilities, had been poised to begin next year. The Labor Department’s solicitor’s office, led by its New York regional office, had also been engaged in active litigation against Amazon for almost two years.
In a statement, Amazon said that “OSHA agreed to withdraw all but one of the ergonomic citations it issued to us, concluding its investigation.”
The company said it accepted a citation for a site in Illinois that processes bulky items, specifically involving the handling of televisions, which will entail better enforcement of its existing policies. An OSHA citation related to an alleged failure to provide outside medical care for employees at a sorting center in New York “lacked merit, which is consistent with their decision to withdraw it,” according to Amazon.
However, an OSHA spokesperson clarified by email that the agency in that case is deferring to an ongoing investigation at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
"The decision to withdraw the citation related to Amazon's failure to properly refer workers for medical care in no way reflects a determination by OSHA that the citation lacked merit,” a Department of Labor spokesperson said. “OSHA's withdrawal is carried out in the context of SDNY's ongoing investigation and OSHA's belief that SDNY is well positioned to pursue those issues further under its enforcement authority. OSHA retains its right to continue to pursue these types of medical mismanagement cases against Amazon or any other employer in the future.”
Moreover, the e-retailer has agreed to pay more than 90% of the penalties assessed in all 10 citations, including the withdrawn ones, and “Amazon has agreed to permit monitoring inspections at those facilities,” the spokesperson said.
The corporate-wide nature of the settlement is by design, in part because it pushes companies to make systemic improvements, according to Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda.
“Corporate-wide settlements can be a critical tool to protect workers from health and safety violations because they protect the most workers and can incentivize companies to solve underlying problems,” she said in a statement. “This settlement requires Amazon to take action at the corporate level to ensure corporate-wide ergonomic requirements are effectively implemented at its warehouses nationwide.”
Working conditions at Amazon facilities have been in focus this week. Unionized Amazon workers affiliated with the Teamsters went on strike Thursday, demanding the company address wage and safety demands. A few days before that, Sen. Bernie Sanders released a Senate report that found a “uniquely dangerous” work environment at Amazon warehouses. That report “features selective, outdated information that lacks context and isn’t grounded in reality," according to Amazon.
