Report: New York Attorney General Examining Amazon’s Firing of Warehouse Worker

According to a recent report, e-commerce giant Amazon may have violated worker safety laws and New York State’s whistle-blower protections when it fired an employee who protested the company’s coronavirus response. The New York Times reports that New York Attorney General Leticia James.

The New York Times reports that e-commerce giant Amazon could possibly have violated federal workers safety laws and whistle-blower protections by firing an employee from its Staten island warehouse who protested the company’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. New York Attorney General, Letitia James, is reportedly looking into the situation.

The case that James’ office is investigating is that of Christopher Smalls, an employee in Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse. In March, Smalls pushed for more worker protections at the facility as many of his co-workers became sick.

On March 28, Smalls was put on quarantine by Amazon who alleged that Smalls had been in contact with an individual who had contracted the Wuhan coronavirus. On March 30 Smalls led a protest calling for Amazon to close the warehouse and provide workers with more protection, Amazon promptly fired him. The company alleged that Smalls had violated its politics by leaving quarantine to protest at the Amazon warehouse.

More attention was drawn to the firing of Smalls after leaked notes from an April 1 meeting between Amazon’s top executive show that they discussed making Smalls “the face of the entire union/organizing movement,” stating that he was “not smart, or articulate.” Amazon’s general counsel later apologized for the remarks.

Lawmakers have alleged that the meeting notes show that Amazon planned to “smear” Smalls and questioned why the company had put Smalls on quarantine more than two weeks after he had been exposed to a sick coworker and just days before Smalls’ planned protest.

James’ office has reportedly contacted Amazon about the incident, in the letter to Amazon the attorney general reportedly stated that Amazon’s safety measures were inadequate and might have violated provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com