Amazon.com Services LLC faced significant fines in May from the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for breaching the state’s Warehouse Quota Law at its facilities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, situated east of Los Angeles.
The law, implemented in 2022, mandates that warehouse employers must provide clear written notice to their employees detailing any productivity quotas they are expected to meet. This includes specifying the number of tasks that must be completed per hour and outlining potential disciplinary measures for failing to meet these quotas.
Amazon received fines totaling $5.9 million, with $1.2 million issued for violations at its Redlands warehouse and $4.7 million for violations at its Moreno Valley location. The company has expressed disagreement with the allegations and has initiated an appeal against the citations.
According to Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower, Amazon’s practices directly contravened the intentions behind the Warehouse Quota Law, which seeks to prevent the implementation of unfair quota systems that could negatively impact workers.
The investigation into Amazon’s operations began in response to complaints from employees at these Southern California facilities, who reported being subjected to unjust quota practices, as noted by the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, an advocacy nonprofit focused on improving working conditions.
Similar legislative measures aimed at safeguarding warehouse workers have been enacted in states such as Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Washington. Additionally, in May, U.S. Senator Edward Markey introduced a federal version of the warehouse worker protection act in Congress, reflecting growing concerns and efforts to extend such protections nationwide.
