Yesterday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed it Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA), which protects warehouse distribution workers from secret or illegitimate work rate quotas. In addition to protecting warehouse workers from unreasonably demanding work quotas, the law will require distribution centers to inform employees of their performance and rights in the workplace.
While the law isn’t aimed specifically at Amazon, the authors say it’s designed to address the management practices and quotas the e-commerce giant imposes on its employees, which has often been criticized for the inhumane expectations placed on its warehouse workers.
The WWPA follows a similar law that was passed California last September (AB-701) that required employers to provide their warehouse workers with written descriptions of their quotas and also prevented employers from penalizing employees for failing to meet quotas that were not disclosed to them.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, explained why his organization was pushing for the legislation, saying: “Amazon alone has opened more than 70 facilities in the state and more than half of those facilities have been built since January 2021. At the same time, we have seen higher injury rates for warehouse workers. Due to extreme work quotas, warehouse workers have suffered heart attacks, strokes, repetitive motion injuries, and irreparable lifelong joint and back pain.”
According to a Dec. 16 publication issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA subpoenaed Amazon for 14 administration violations, including failure to record and misclassify injuries and illnesses of its employees. These violations only include the investigations conducted at just six of Amazon’s 110 active fulfillment centers in the US.
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