By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Amazon.com was sued on Wednesday in a proposed class action saying the retailer subjects thousands of warehouse employees with disabilities to a “punitive” policy governing workplace absences.
Amazon, the largest private-sector U.S. employer behind Walmart, was accused of docking unpaid time off when it orders New York employees seeking accommodations for disabilities to stay home, and then threatening to fire them for missing too much work.
“Amazon’s practices chill employees’ exercise of their legal rights, because employees justifiably fear they too will be disciplined and fired if they request reasonable accommodation,” according to the complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.
The lawsuit seeks damages from Seattle-based Amazon for hourly warehouse workers in New York state over the last three years who sought or intended to seek accommodations for their disabilities.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said claims in the lawsuit that the Seattle-based company violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York human rights and employment laws are “simply not true.”
She added: “Ensuring the health and well-being of our employees is our top priority, and we’re committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for everyone.”
AMAZON ALLEGEDLY SENDS INTIMIDATING EMAILS
The lawsuit is led by Cayla Lyster, who works at an Amazon warehouse near Syracuse, New York, and said she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder.
Lyster said Amazon repeatedly put her on unpaid leave, once for nearly six weeks, while it reviewed her requests for a chair to sit on, not having to climb ladders and other accommodations, while supervisors berated her for seeking help.
She said Amazon’s “punitive absence control system” subjects employees who incur too much unpaid leave, even when the law allows, to emails demanding they justify their absences within 48 hours or risk being fired.
These emails “intimidate and threaten employees who have exercised their rights to request reasonable accommodation,” Lyster said.
“Workers shouldn’t ever need to choose between their safety and their paycheck,” said Inimai Chettiar, president of A Better Balance, a workplace legal advocacy group that helped file the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed three weeks after New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin sued Amazon, saying it often denies reasonable accommodation requests, and repeatedly puts pregnant workers and workers with disabilities on unpaid leave.
Amazon denied Platkin’s claims, and said it approves more than 99% of requests for pregnancy-related accommodations.
The case is Lyster v Amazon.com Services LLC, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-09423.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Diane Craft)
