- Amazon.com Inc's (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans to send injured U.S. warehouse staff to non-profit groups, like homeless shelters, kitchens, and charity shops, sparked criticism from workers' rights advocates, the Financial Times reports.
- There were 34,001 serious injuries at U.S. Amazon facilities in 2021, up 36% year-on-year.
- Amazon prioritized containing its serious injury rate after Amazon's warehouses attracted regulatory attention and heightened unionization efforts.
- Also Read: Amazon's Unionization Would Hit Its Profitability, Morgan Stanley Says
- Amazon's program encompassing 250 locations in 33 U.S. states, enables Amazon to send injured employees on "light duty" and remain on full pay.
- The program also allows Amazon to salvage its Lost Time Incident Rate (LTIR), highlighting the number of more severe incidents at its facilities.
- A 2019 Amazon memo outlined how finding more alternative light-duty roles for those injured had "the potential to reduce Lost Time Injuries and workers' compensation costs by 70 percent."
- Workers' rights groups and lawyers representing injured workers alleged the light-duty roles of manipulating statistics to make it appear fewer severe injuries were occurring at Amazon.
- Amazon argued that the voluntary program helped employees get back to work more quickly and retain their full salary.
- Amazon has placed over 10,000 workers at non-profits since Amazon Community Together launched in June 2016, FT notes.
- Amazon recently set out an "aggressive geographic and use case expansion" for the program that reflected its plan to create an automated in-house system to match hurt workers with appropriate external positions.
- Price Action: AMZN shares closed lower by 0.50% at $3,064.45 on Wednesday.
