Amazon has been sued for failing to provide mandatory 30-minute meal lunch breaks for employees. The lawsuit claims that the fulfilment centres of the e-commerce giant in California failed to provide enough lunch breaks to employees. The lawsuit has been filed by a former employee. Lovenia Scott alleged that the company did not schedule a 30-minute lunch break for each five-hour work period. Lovenia used to work at a warehouse in Vacaville, California. Even when the workers get their breaks, they were supposed to carry their walkie-talkies with them. “Workers were supposed to monitor it even during the meal breaks to manage any situation on the floor. Listening and responding over walkie-talkies would shorten the meal breaks,” the lawsuit claims.
Moreover, the lawsuit alleged that employees were instructed to take meal breaks ‘if and when they could get it.’ Scott alleged that there was so much work assigned to employees because of serious staffing issues. Because of the work pressure, it was very unlikely that workers would be able to complete the assigned work on time and take a lunch break. Scott also said that several workers saw their breaks shortened to 10-minute. The lawsuit also claimed that the company did not compensate works for using their cell phone for completing official tasks. Scott, who worked at the Vacaville warehouse for over two years, said that the company even failed to pay her final wages on time.
The e-commerce giant has been various lawsuits related to employees and wages. Earlier in March, Amazon and its independent contractor were fined USD 6.4 million for wage theft. The California Labour Commission’s Office had fined the company after it was found the Amazon’s subcontractor underpaid drivers. Green Messengers, an independent contractor of Amazon, scheduled drivers to 10-hour work a day. Because of the workload, drivers were forced to skip their meals. Amazon drivers in the past alleged that they had to urinate in bottles and some even struggled to change their menstrual pads.