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Amazon ( AMZN ) said to intimidate workers with disabilities

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Jobs at risk for required unpaid leave, lawsuit claims

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New Jersey attorney general filed similar lawsuit recently

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Amazon.com ( AMZN ) was

sued on Wednesday in a proposed class action saying the retailer

subjects thousands of warehouse employees with disabilities to a

"punitive" policy governing workplace absences.

Amazon ( AMZN ), the largest private-sector U.S. employer behind

Walmart ( WMT ), was accused of docking unpaid time off when it

orders New York employees seeking accommodations for

disabilities to stay home, and then threatening to fire them for

missing too much work.

"Amazon's ( AMZN ) practices chill employees' exercise of their legal

rights, because employees justifiably fear they too will be

disciplined and fired if they request reasonable accommodation,"

according to the complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

The Seattle-based retailer had no immediate comment.

AMAZON ALLEGEDLY SENDS INTIMIDATING EMAILS

The lawsuit is led by Cayla Lyster, who works at an Amazon ( AMZN )

warehouse near Syracuse, New York, and said she has

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective-tissue disorder.

Lyster said Amazon ( AMZN ) repeatedly put her on unpaid leave, once

for nearly six weeks, while it reviewed her requests for a chair

to sit on, not having to climb ladders and other accommodations,

while supervisors berated her for seeking help.

She said Amazon's ( AMZN ) "punitive absence control system" subjects

employees who incur too much unpaid leave, even when the law

allows, to emails demanding they justify their absences within

48 hours or risk being fired.

These emails "intimidate and threaten employees who have

exercised their rights to request reasonable accommodation,"

Lyster said.

NEW JERSEY SUED AMAZON LAST MONTH

The lawsuit seeks damages for all hourly warehouse workers

in New York state over the last three years who sought, or

intended to seek, accommodations for their disabilities.

"Workers shouldn't ever need to choose between their safety

and their paycheck," said Inimai Chettiar, president of A Better

Balance, a workplace legal advocacy group that helped file the

lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed three weeks after New Jersey Attorney

General Matthew Platkin sued Amazon ( AMZN ), saying it often denies

reasonable accommodation requests, and repeatedly puts pregnant

workers and workers with disabilities on unpaid leave.

Amazon ( AMZN ) denied Platkin's claims, and said it approves more

than 99% of requests for pregnancy-related accommodations.

The case is Lyster v Amazon.com Services LLC, U.S. District

Court, Southern District of New York, No. 25-09423.