Amazon to pay $500,000 over concealing covid 19 cases from workers

Amazon has agreed to pay $500,000 to protect California's consumer protection laws after the company was accused of concealing numbers of covid 19 cases to its workers. The judgment which is still subject to court approval is the first of its kind across the country and is in line with the 'right to know' law in California that was designed to keep workers safe during the pandemic, according to a news release from the attorney general’s office. 

Under the arrangement, Amazon must also tell its warehouse workers within a day's time the exact number of covid 19 cases in their workspace. The company has to ensure that notifications inform the workers about the company's disinfection and safety plans, tell health officials about new cases recorded and submit to monitoring by the attorney general’s office regarding its Covid-19 notifications.

Barbara Agrait, spokesperson for Amazon said in an emailed statement, "We’re glad to have this resolved." She said that the attorney general's office "found no substantive issues with the safety measures in our buildings," only with the technical aspects of how the company has been communicating broadly with its workers. 

Source: The New York Times