Amazon Gets Sued for Subtle Retaliation Against Workers Requesting Accommodations

When we think of retaliation at work, we think of a boss or employer doing something really bad to an employee, to get back at that employee for exercising a legal right. By “really bad,” we think of being fired or demoted or being refused a promotion.

But as is alleged in a recent lawsuit against Amazon, retaliation can come in much more subtle forms. Often, retaliation can be something that doesn’t directly affect your pay or job position, but which simply affects your work environment.

Lawsuit Alleges Hostile Behaviors

The lawsuits, which Amazon denies, alleges that employees who had covered disabilities under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), had requested accommodations at work, because of various covered disabilities that they suffered from. Most of the accommodations would not have affected their ability to do their job (for example, one employee requested a chair at her workstation, and her job did not involve movement or climbing anywhere).

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon, faced with evaluating whether accommodations were needed and what accommodations were needed, put an employee on a six week unpaid leave. In the meantime, the employee alleges that Amazon supervisors scolded her for even requesting the accommodations. Employees also allege that they were sent harassing and intimidating emails for requesting the accommodations.

Allegations included that Amazon required that employees who requested legal unpaid leave (for example, for family medical leave, or for disability accommodations), were told that they had to “justify their absences” within two days, or else risk being fired, a requirement not found in, or allowed by, the law.

The Complaint also alleges that Amazon would unilaterally take away accommodations that had previously been approved, declaring that they were no longer needed by employees.

Amazon also uses what is known as Unpaid Time Off. But when employees would request legally required accommodations, Amazon would deduct any time used, from those employees’ time off balances.

What the Law Requires

Even requiring an employee to use unpaid leave can be illegal. The ADA does not allow an employer to simply not pay employees who request or who need accommodations under the ADA.

The law requires that the employer and employee work collaboratively to find accommodations that allow the employee to do his or her job, and to get paid for doing the job. Simply not paying employees who need accommodations, is a violation of the ADA.

So, for example, if more frequent break times were to be a reasonable accommodation, the employer would still have to pay the employee for those break times. Otherwise, the employee would be getting punished for needing reasonable accommodations because he or she has a disability.

As the Amazon lawsuit alleges, this kind of behavior by employers not only punishes those asking for accommodations, but has a chilling effect, in that other employees who may need accommodations may be discouraged from even asking for them.

Are you being denied rights at work, or being retaliated against for asking for accommodations?  Contact the San Jose disability discrimination attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today for help.

Source:

finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-workers-with-disabilities-file-suit-against-tech-giant-alleging-systematic-discrimination-151735733.html