NEW YORK (AP) – Amazon is suing the New York Attorney General in an attempt to prevent her from suing the company over its coronavirus security protocols and the dismissal of one of its outspoken workers.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, Amazon said Attorney General Letitia James violated her authority by trying to regulate coronavirus security protocols in his warehouse in New York State’s state.
The company said James threatened to sue if Amazon did not agree to its list of claims, including hiring the worker, Christian Smalls, and paying large sums of money to him and another fired worker.
James said Friday she will continue to review her legal options. In a statement, she called Amazon’s lawsuit “a sad attempt to divert attention from the facts and to avoid responsibility for failing to protect hard-working workers from a deadly virus.”
Amazon defended its COVID-19 safety protocols in the lawsuit, saying it had hired experts, added hand-cleaning stations and signs warning employees to stay at least 6 feet apart. It is also said that the unsolicited inspections in March and April by the sheriff in New York found that the warehouse went above safety requirements.
Amazon fired Smalls in March after leading an outing at the Staten Island Warehouse to work for 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 terminated Smalls for violating social distance guidelines.
The company argued in court documents that only the federal government can give an order for the security protocols of COVID-19 and that the attorney general’s office does not have the legal authority it “wants to exercise against Amazon.”
Amazon, which is in Seattle, is asking the court to stop James from taking action against the company, declaring that it has no authority over the safety measures of COVID-19, or to regulate claims for which a worker has been retaliated against. not.