Amazon Resolves COVID-19 Issue With The State Of California

The California state government accuses Amazon of violating "right-to-know" laws. (photo; unsplash doc)

JAKARTA - Amazon.com Inc has reached an agreement with the California state government to settle claims for hiding data to local health agencies about the number of workers infected with COVID-19. This was revealed by the state attorney general, Monday, November 15.

California has accused Amazon of violating the state's September 2020 "right-to-know" law, Assembly Bill 685, which requires workers to be kept up-to-date on the spread of COVID-19, and provides information about coronavirus-related safety and benefit plans.

Attorney General Rob Bonta said that by keeping tens of thousands of warehouse workers, as well as agencies, secret, the online retail giants made it impossible for them to effectively track the spread of the virus.

Under the settlement, Amazon agreed to alert California warehouse workers within one day of the exact number of new COVID-19 cases at their workplace.

The Seattle-based company will also pay $500.000 to help enforce the state's consumer protection laws.

Amazon admits no guilt or liability in approving the settlement, which was filed in California Superior Court in Sacramento and still requires judge approval.

"We are pleased this has been resolved and see that AG has found no substantive issues with the security measures in our building," Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Agrait said in an email to Reuters.

The National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit, said in June that at least 14 states in the US had adopted rules to protect workers' safety against COVID-19.

Amazon has also faced criticism elsewhere for its handling of COVID-19 at work.

The company filed an appeal against a New York state judge's refusal last month to drop a lawsuit by the state's Attorney General, Letitia James, over the safety of their workers in New York City.