The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a lawsuit against Amazon for the wrongful termination of Gerald Bryson, a warehouse worker at Amazon's Staten Island. In the court document, it said that the retail giant issued more than 13,000 disciplinary notices to its warehouse employees in 2020.
The said notices show how Amazon measures the performance of its employees and how it has suspended and even fired those who fell short of the company's expectations.
Amazon's Supportive Feedback Document
The fired Amazon worker, Gerald Bryson, revealed that he had received a "Supportive Feedback Document" from his manager while he was on shift.
Bryson was tasked with hand-counting thousands of items in the warehouse's inventory.
According to Reuters, Bryson had made a total of 22 errors, including tallying 19 products in a storage bin that had 20.
The document stated that employees could only make a mistake six times a year before they get fired.
Also Read : Amazon Illegally Fires Daequan Smith Because of Worker Unionization Attempt, Says US National Labor Board
The employees' records and interviews reveal the daily pressure that they face in the warehouse as they are forced to complete their tasks accurately and quickly.
The impossible demands of Amazon have created a toxic work environment, and it has fueled unionization efforts.
In March, Bryson's workplace voted to become the first organized warehouse of the company in the United States, and the other 100 warehouses in the country are planning to follow in its footsteps.
NLRB Files Lawsuit
Amazon has disclosed the records in response to a complaint by the National Labor Relations Board or NLRB over Bryson's dismissal back in April 2020.
Several of these documents also were contained in a separate and ongoing lawsuit in which the Labor Relations Board sought to stop Amazon's "labor practices."
According to CNBC, Amazon stated that the goals it has set for the employees are "fair and based on what the majority of tie team is accomplishing."
The company said that it delivers more "praise to workers than criticism," and that they provide honest feedback to its employees to help them with their work and help them understand the expectations in the workplace.
The regional director of the NLRB, Kathy Drew King, said that the Labor Board had sought Amazon's compliance with labor law.
In April, an administrative law judge ordered Bryson's reinstatement after finding that Amazon had fired him illegally for protesting the safety conditions of the warehouse.
Amazon is appealing the judge's decision, saying in a statement that the retail giant terminated Bryson for defaming a colleague during a demonstration in the warehouse's parking lot. Bryson noted that the employee had verbally attacked him after the altercation.
Bryson, now a union organizer, said he is not sure he will return.
Disciplinary Notices
According to Forbes, Amazon told the judge that the company could not meet NLRB demands in a subpoena to provide the thousands of disciplinary notices it has already delivered to its employees, calling the requirement "burdensome."
However, it provided statistics for the "disciplines," which include suspensions, warnings, and firings of employees at three warehouses.
These included more than 600 notices for employees between 2015 and 2021 that were positive, negative, or neutral. But it is not clear from the records whether the notices were a representative sample of Amazon's feedback.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
