Former Amazon workers in western New York are suing the e-commerce giant, claiming they were denied accommodations for their pregnancies.
Plaintiffs Willamina Barclay, Kristina Green, Dazaria Parks and Jennifer Hatch filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Tuesday.
The four plaintiffs allege that Amazon did not provide them seating or other pregnancy-related medical accommodations and dinged them for taking breaks to recover or pump breast milk, according to a release from worker advocacy organization A Better Balance, which is helping represent the plaintiffs.
Ms. Barclay also alleged that she was fired following a pregnancy-related medical emergency, while Ms. Green, Ms. Hatch and Ms. Parks claimed that they were fired over the amount of time they used for breaks.
“Denying a pregnant worker a stool, a lighter workload, or a bathroom break is a violation of federal law,” A Better Balance President Inimai Chettiar told The Associated Press.
Ms. Barclay and Ms. Hatch have already received “right to sue” notices from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for alleged violations of the 2022 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to the complaint, while Ms. Green and Ms. Parks are still waiting for their notices.
Amazon says the complaint and the release from A Better Balance misconstrue the facts of the four cases. Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told USA Today that “In the past year, more than 99.9% of pregnancy-related accommodation requests have been approved. The accounts shared by A Better Balance contain inaccuracies and omit important details.”
The company told Fox News that “Our accommodations policies follow the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act, and any implication we don’t follow federal law is false and misleading. … The details provided in this lawsuit do not reflect the full facts of these cases or the reality of our extensive accommodations process.”
The first three women worked at Amazon warehouse facilities in and around Rochester, New York, 66 miles northeast of Buffalo, while Ms. Hatch worked in Buffalo, according to the complaint.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.