(Bloomberg)—Amazon.com Inc., No. 1 within the 2021 Digital Commerce 360 High 1000, was hit Wednesday with lawsuits from 5 girls alleging harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
The ladies, who’ve held jobs within the firm’s headquarters, regional workplaces and logistics operations, are all represented by Wigdor LLP, the legislation agency representing a plaintiff in a high-profile discrimination and harassment lawsuit concentrating on Amazon and filed earlier this 12 months.
“These 5 folks actually symbolize a cross-section of staff,” mentioned Jeanne Christensen, a companion with the agency. “We undoubtedly noticed a sample in tales that we had been being instructed.”
Amazon spokesperson Jaci Anderson mentioned the corporate was investigating every of the incidents detailed within the lawsuits and has discovered no proof to help the allegations. “Amazon works laborious to foster a various, equitable and inclusive tradition,” Anderson mentioned in an electronic mail. “We don’t tolerate discrimination or harassment in any kind, and staff are inspired to boost considerations to any member of administration or by way of an nameless ethics hotline with no danger of retaliation.”
The lawsuits come as Amazon, identified for an aggressive and intense office tradition, faces strain to make life higher for its staff. Shareholders are set to vote subsequent week on a decision, filed by the New York State Widespread Retirement Fund, urging the corporate to audit its influence on civil rights, fairness, range and inclusion. High shareholder advisory teams have really useful buyers vote for the proposal.
In April, Amazon publicly outlined targets to advertise extra girls and Black staff, and in his remaining letter to shareholders as CEO, Jeff Bezos pledged to focus extra on staff’ well-being, saying “we want a greater imaginative and prescient for a way we create worth for our staff.”
In one of many lawsuits, filed Wednesday in federal courtroom in Arizona, Tiffany Gordwin, who joined Amazon’s human assets group in 2019, alleged she “was handled like a second-class citizen by nearly all of her supervisors, all White.” A Black lady, Gordon was rejected for promotions in favor of youthful, much less certified White males, she says within the grievance.
Emily Sousa, employed at Amazon final 12 months as a shift supervisor at a Pennsylvania facility, says her supervisor made her “the goal of fixed harassment” and tried to domesticate a sexual relationship. She was demoted and despatched to a different warehouse after rejecting his advances, she alleges in a grievance filed in federal courtroom in Delaware.
Diana Cuervo, a Latina and former supervisor in an Amazon warehouse in Everett, Washington, says she was terminated after complaining to human assets a few supervisor, Christopher Stoia, who she says subjected her to repeated racist remarks. Stoia didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Pearl Thomas, a Black human assets worker who labored for the Amazon Net Providers cloud division at Seattle headquarters, mentioned in a grievance that in a digital assembly to debate post-pandemic return to work plans, her supervisor Keith DurJava muttered the N-word earlier than hanging up. DurJava didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
And in a case filed in California, Cindy Warner, a homosexual lady employed in February 2020 for a senior function in Amazon Net Providers’ skilled providers group, says she was focused for abusive and sexist therapy by “a boys’ membership the place predominantly White male executives jealously guard their sphere of affect.” Warner, who was fired in April, is alleging violations of equal pay legal guidelines. She alleges her supervisor Todd Weatherby handed her over for promotions in retaliation for her voicing considerations about gender discrimination within the division. Weatherby didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Favourite
