Democratic senator aims at Amazon’s labor practices with first federal bill regulating quotas

Democratic
Sen.
Ed
Markey,
D-Mass.,
on
Thursday
introduced
new
legislation
to
regulate
the
use
of
productivity
quotas
by
warehouse
employers


such
as
Amazon,
a
tool
critics
have
said
encourages
employees
to
work
faster
and
without
frequent
breaks,
putting
them
at
higher
risk
of
injury.

The
bill,
called
the
Warehouse
Worker
Protection
Act,
is
the
first
attempt
to
police
warehouse
quotas
at
the
federal
level.
It
comes
after
similar
laws
have
passed
in
multiple
states,
including

California,

New
York,
Washington
and
Minnesota.

The
legislation
would
require
employers
to
be
more
transparent
about
workplace
quotas
and
potential
disciplinary
consequences.
Employers
would
also
need
to
provide
workers
with
at
least
two
business
days’
notice
of
any
changes
to
quotas
or
workplace
surveillance.

It
also
seeks
to
ban
companies
from
using “harmful
quotas”
like “time
off
task,”
an
oft-scrutinized
metric
used
by
Amazon
to
measure
the
time
a
worker
isn’t
scanning
items
while
on
the
clock.
Employees

have
argued
the
time
off
task
policy
makes
working
conditions
more
strenuous
and
that
it’s
used
as
a
tool
to
surveil
workers.

“Amazon
has
perfected
a
punishing
quota
system
that
pushes
workers
to
and
beyond
their
physical
limits,”
Markey,
a
member
of
the
Health,
Education,
Labor
and
Pensions
Committee’s
Subcommittee
on
Employment
and
Workplace
Safety,
said
at
a
press
conference
announcing
the
bill.

“They
set
requirements
for
how
many
packages
workers
have
to
scan
without
telling
workers
what
those
requirements
are.
Then
they
fire
workers
who
fail
to
win
their
impossible
game,”
Markey
added.

Amazon’s
use
of
quotas
in
its
warehouse
and
delivery
operations
has
been
a
frequent
subject
of
debate
alongside

broader
scrutiny
of
the
safety
of
its
frontline
employees.
The
company
—
the
second-largest
private
employer
in
the
U.S.
—
has
previously
said
it
doesn’t
use
fixed
quotas.
Rather,
the
company
said,
it
relies
on “performance
expectations”
that
factor
in
multiple
indicators,
such
as
how
certain
teams
at
a
site
are
performing.
It’s
also
disputed
allegations
that
employees
don’t
get
enough
breaks.

Amazon
has
a “time
logged
in”
policy
that “assesses
whether
employees
are
actually
working
while
they’re
logged
in
at
their
station,”
Amazon
spokesperson
Steve
Kelly
said.
Kelly
added
that
employees
can
check
their
performance
anytime
and
that
managers
provide
coaching
to
struggling
workers.

Yet
some
Amazon
warehouse
workers
say
the
company’s
productivity
quotas
are
opaque
and
often
determined
by
algorithms,
and
that
they
face
disciplinary
action
or
termination
for
failing
to
meet
them.
The
Occupational
Safety
and
Health
Administration
announced
in
January
2023
that

the
agency
issued
citations
against
Amazon
for
exposing
employees
to
safety
hazards,
pointing
to
its
pace
of
work
as
a
driving
factor.

OSHA
and
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office are
investigating
conditions at
several
warehouses,
while
the
U.S.
Department
of
Justice
is
examining
whether
Amazon
underreports
injuries.
Amazon
has
said
it
disagrees
with
the
DOJ
and
OSHA’s
allegations.

Wendy
Taylor,
a
packer
at
an
Amazon
warehouse
in
Missouri,
said
during
Markey’s
press
conference
on
Thursday
that
she
and
others
are “fighting
for
quota
transparency.”
Taylor
said
last
March
she
was
ordered
back
to
work
by
onsite
medical
staff
after
she “tripped
and
fell
flat
on
my
face”
over
a
pallet.
Her
doctor
later
found
she’d
torn
her
meniscus
during
the
fall.

Taylor
blamed
Amazon’s “inhumane
work
rates”
for
the
injury,
adding, “Amazon
workers
provide
same-day
shipping,
but
we
can’t
even
get
the
same-day
care
we
deserve.”

WATCH: Amazon’s
worker
safety
hazards
come
under
fire
from
regulators
and
the
DOJ