NEW YORK - New York State Attorney General on Tuesday asked a state judge to appoint a monitor to oversee worker safety at an Amazon.com Inc fulfillment center in New York City, citing the retailer's rollbacks of COVID 19 safety measures that were already inadequate. The attorney general wants a court order requiring the re-hiring of Christian Smalls, who Amazon fired for violating a paid quarantine, and leading a March 2020 protest over conditions at the Staten Island facility.
Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.
James, a Democrat running to become the New York governor, sued Amazon in February over its safety protocols for thousands of workers at the Staten Island facility and a distribution center in New York City borough of Queens.
She said Amazon is valuing profit over safety and acting as if the pandemic is over by rolling back safety protocols even as the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus threatens to increase transmission rates.
The alleged rollbacks include making the Staten Island facility mask-optional for vaccinated workers, while not requiring masks for unvaccinated workers, and failing to enforce social distancing.
James said the proposed monitor would oversee the cleaning, hygiene and social distancing procedures in her motion for a preliminary injunction.
While case rates, hospitalizations, and deaths increase, Amazon rescinds protections and packs in more workers for its holiday rush, James said in her motion. Amazon's ongoing failure to protect workers must be stopped. The Seattle-based company is appealing a New York state judge's refusal to dismiss James' lawsuit in October.
Amazon reached a separate settlement with California on November 15 to resolve claims that it violated a state right-to-know law by concealing the numbers of workers infected with COVID- 19 from warehouse workers and local health agencies.