California says Amazon hid COVID outbreaks from workers, will pay $500,000 – By John Woolfolk (Mercury News) / Nov 15 2021
“Californians have a right to know about potential exposures”
In what California officials are calling a national first, Amazon will pay a $500,000 fine and submit to state monitoring for failing to adequately notify warehouse workers and local health officials of COVID-19 outbreaks in the workplace.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said Monday the online retail giant violated a state law that requires employers to notify workers of COVID-19 cases at their worksites and report them to local health agencies. The company’s actions, he said, often left workers and local health officials in the dark and unable to effectively track the spread of the virus.
“Bottom line: Californians have a right to know about potential exposures to the coronavirus to protect themselves, their families, and their communities,” Bonta told reporters outside an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco. “This judgment sends a clear message that businesses must comply with this important law.”
Amazon senior public relations manager Barbara M. Agrait said Monday that “we’re glad to have this resolved” and to see that the attorney general “found no substantive issues with the safety measures in our buildings.”
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