Amazon Agrees To Pay $500,000 Fine In California Over Failure To Report COVID-19 Cases

Amazon has been fined by Californian regulators $500,000 for not properly informing its employees and health authorities of new and existing COVID-19 cases at its facilities. The company has agreed to pay the fine and to be monitored by California health officials.

The ruling, which only applies in California, compels the corporation to allow the attorney general's office to monitor its virus notifications for a year and to pay the $500,000 fine to help enforce the state's consumer protection laws.

California's attorney general accused the company of failing to properly disclose the number of COVID-19 cases at its more than 100 fulfillment centers across the state, which put its more than 150,000 employees at risk.

Under the new agreement, Amazon has agreed to notify its workers and health officials within 24 to 48 hours if it detects a new COVID-19 case at any of its facilities.

Rob Bonta, California's attorney general, accused Amazon of focusing too much on its booming business and historic sales during the pandemic and neglected to prioritize the safety of its employees. He added that Amazon's actions left individual warehouses and health officials from effectively tracking the spread of the disease.

Bonta said Amazon's lack of action had left many workers "terrified" and "powerless" to protect themselves and their families. If workers had known that there were people that were positive for the virus at their workplace, they could have chosen to stay at home or get tested.

The ruling is the first of its kind in the United States and is in accordance with California's "right-to-know" statute that went into force last year. Employers must notify employees about coronavirus outbreaks at their workplaces, inform them of pandemic-related protections, benefits, disinfection, and safety measures, and report instances to local health authorities under the recently implemented "right-to-know" law.

Amazon said that it was glad to have resolved the issue. The company also pointed out that health officials had not found any substantive issue with the current safety measures it has implemented in its facilities.

The number of Amazon workers who have been exposed to the virus at work during the epidemic remains unknown. The company had announced in October 2020 that it estimates that approximately 20,000 of its frontline U.S. workers had tested positive.

The settlement comes as Amazon prepares for the Christmas surge of package deliveries. Compliance, according to Bonta, is especially critical as the state prepares for a probable winter rise in cases as people gather indoors for the holidays.