NEW YORK (AP) – Amazon is suing the New York attorney general in an attempt to prevent her from suing the company for its coronavirus security protocols and the dismissal of one of its declared employees.
In Friday’s federal court case in Brooklyn, Amazon said Attorney General Letitia James overstepped her authority in trying to regulate coronavirus security protocols at her warehouse in New York’s Staten Island neighborhood.
The company said James threatened to sue if Amazon did not agree to its list of requirements, including rehiring the worker, Christian Smalls, and paying him and another dismissed worker large sums of money.
James said on Friday that she will continue to review her legal options. In a statement, she called Amazon’s lawsuit “a sad attempt to deflect the facts and evade responsibility for its failures to protect workers from a deadly virus.”
Amazon defended its COVID-19 security protocols in the process, saying it hired experts, added hand sanitizer stations and warnings warning workers to stay at least 6 feet away from each other. He also said that unannounced inspections in March and April by the New York City sheriff’s office found that the warehouse was above and beyond security requirements.
Amazon fired Smalls in March after leading a strike at the Staten Island warehouse to pressure the company to better protect its workers from the virus. Smalls said he was fired in retaliation and to prevent other workers from speaking out. Amazon said it closed Smalls because it violated social detachment guidelines.
The company argued in court documents that only the federal government can enforce security protocols COVID-19 and that the attorney general’s office has no legal authority “which it intends to exercise against Amazon”.
Seattle-based Amazon is asking the court to stop James from taking any action against the company and to declare that it has no authority over COVID-19 security measures or that it regulates complaints against which a worker has been retaliated against. .