The California Labor Commissioner cited Amazon nearly $6 million for failing to provide warehouse workers with written quotas they were required to meet, the commissioner’s office announced Tuesday.
The citations allege that Amazon violated the Warehouse Quotas law a total of 59,017 times at two distribution warehouses in southern California—46,697 times at ONT8, and 12,320 times at ONT9. Amazon has been cited $100 per violation, for a total fine of $5,901,700.
“Amazon failed to provide written notice of quotas,” the commissioner’s office said in a press release. “The employer argued they did not need a quota system because they use a peer-to-peer evaluation system. However, this law defines a quota as work that must be performed at a specified speed or the worker suffers discipline. It also places limits on quotas that prevent compliance with meal or rest periods, use of bathroom facilities, or compliance with occupational health and safety laws. A quota may be illegal if it is not disclosed to workers or precludes employees from exercising these statutory rights.”
Amazon has previously faced backlash for obscure performance quotas that drivers and warehouse workers have described as impossible to meet. Many delivery drivers have resorted to peeing in bottles because they do not have time to use the bathroom on the job. One group of drivers in Colorado has sued the company over this issue. These impossible quotas are so pervasive that they have even become a Reddit meme. Many of these same problems extend into Amazon fulfillment centers, as well.