Amazon workers with disabilities sue tech giant, alleging systematic discrimination
A group of Amazon (AMZN) employees has filed a lawsuit against the tech giant, claiming the company systematically discriminated against disabled workers in part due to its alleged use of artificial intelligence.
Nine Amazon employees across multiple divisions and states filed a complaint proposing a class action in a federal district court in Seattle on Oct. 20. Their suit claims Amazon unlawfully denies nearly all medical requests to work remotely as the tech giant pursues its controversial return to office policy — and allegedly uses AI to handle accommodations requests. The suit said the company terminates employees or forces them to take unpaid leave rather than granting their requests for medical accommodations.
A judge must certify the lawsuit as a class action for it to move forward.
The company filed a response opposing the complaint this past Tuesday, arguing the employees’ case is “fundamentally flawed.”
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser told Yahoo Finance in an email: “Most of the allegations in this case are simply untrue and intentionally misleading, and we plan to demonstrate that through the legal process.”
The plaintiffs are represented by New York-based law firm Harman Green PC, which represents about two dozen disabled Amazon employees overall.
“We feel very confident about our claims,” said attorney Walker Harman Jr.
The legal action is one of the latest in a series of employee discrimination lawsuits against Amazon. In late October, New Jersey’s attorney general filed a complaint accusing the company of discriminating against disabled and pregnant warehouse workers. In 2022, the New York State Division of Human Rights filed a similar lawsuit, alleging that Amazon’s policies force disabled and pregnant warehouse workers to take unpaid leave rather than accommodate them.
Wild about AI: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during a keynote address at AWS re:Invent 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jassy has pushed for Amazon’s RTO policy. (Noah Berger/Getty Images for Amazon Web Services) ·Noah Berger via Getty Images
The employees participating in the latest suit — which would be ruled on as a class action by Judge John Chun in the Western District of Washington, should it go forward — range from warehouse workers to software engineers.
Nearly all of the workers allege Amazon failed to grant medical accommodations necessary to their health and safety. The complaint said that Amazon’s requirement that employees use its “A to Z” app when requesting accommodations created technical issues and resulted in significant delays.
Ashley Cook, an Amazon cloud engineer and a military veteran from Texas with uterine fibroids, alleges in the complaint that Amazon unlawfully placed her on unpaid leave against her will after ignoring her requests in its A to Z app to work remotely as a means of managing her condition.
Another plaintiff, Amy Rooker, an investment manager for Amazon’s cloud division, claims she suffered serious injuries from a car accident, which caused chronic pain that limited her ability to commute to work safely. Rooker’s remote work accommodation request was denied, the company refused her request to appeal the denial, and she was terminated from her position, according to the complaint.
Meanwhile, warehouse worker David Ottenweller alleges he was terminated after he was hospitalized as a result of his mental health disability. Another warehouse worker, Michelle Grissom, said she was put on unpaid leave and ultimately terminated after requesting an accommodation for her seizure symptoms.
The lawsuit alleges that the problems faced by plaintiffs are likely more widespread, potentially “representative of tens of thousands of current and former employees of Amazon.”
According to an internal document obtained by Yahoo Finance, which was verified by Amazon, the company receives a slew of accommodation requests — roughly 725 daily, as of 2024. On an annual basis, the lawsuit estimates Amazon’s accommodation requests could tally as high as 255,000 per year. Amazon declined to disclose how many requests it receives or how many are granted.
Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) ·Stephen Brashear via Getty Images
More discrimination lawsuits from disabled employees could be coming: Jasno Dolmer, a spokesperson for a group of 662 Amazon disabled corporate employees that are working to form a union called Disabled Employees United, said nearly all of the group’s members are lawyering up to fight the company’s handling of accommodation requests. So far, at least 140 members of Disabled Employees United have been granted the right to sue the company by the US Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) Commission — a key procedural step that allows them to take their case to court — according to a poll conducted by the group. The EEOC did not respond to a request to confirm that figure.
Amazon told Yahoo Finance it is testing the use of AI for administrative tasks related to accommodations requests but not for making decisions on cases. The tech giant has increasingly looked to use AI internally as it invests hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure to power its AI products. CEO Andy Jassy said in June that the company would reduce its workforce as it implements AI, and the company recently announced it would cut 14,000 jobs.
Using automation to handle accommodation requests for disabled workers is controversial. Former EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows told Yahoo Finance, “More and more employees are in a situation where they are looking to vindicate their rights under the law and cannot get relief because they’re in an automated process that doesn’t allow them to appeal to a person.”
“When you have a disability claim … you have a right to an interactive process, … They [employers] have to engage.” In other words, the Americans With Disabilities Act requires employers to engage in good-faith, back-and-forth discussions — an interactive process — with an employee who has requested a reasonable accommodation for a disability.
The October lawsuit claims Amazon prevents employees from “notifying others about their rights under the law,” saying that Amazon deleted Slack messages from one of its plaintiffs who shared resources for disabled employees if they felt their rights had been violated. Amazon has multiple Slack channels for employees with disabilities that include thousands of members, according to a review of Slack channels seen by Yahoo Finance.
Dolmer said the issue is having a “chilling effect” and that some members of his group have received warnings of disciplinary action for posting such messages in Slack.
Amazon said the messages violate its solicitation policy.
Glasser, Amazon’s spokesperson, told Yahoo Finance: “We’re committed to supporting our employees by providing accommodations that meet their individual needs and the needs of the business.”
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.
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