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A federal judge in New York has directed Amazon.com to adhere to a subpoena from a US civil rights agency that is investigating allegations of discrimination against pregnant employees at the company's warehouses.
The judge, Lorna Schofield, dismissed Amazon's argument that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) subpoena was overly broad and sought irrelevant information.
The EEOC is specifically interested in data related to accommodation requests made by pregnant workers at five US warehouses, such as requests for reduced heavy lifting and extra breaks, as well as Amazon's responses to these requests.
This investigation stems from complaints by five women who claim they experienced discrimination while working at Amazon warehouses in several states.
While Amazon did provide the EEOC with a substantial amount of data in response to the subpoena, it did not include the specific information requested by the agency.
Judge Schofield ruled that the information sought in the subpoenas was crucial for the EEOC to determine whether Amazon engaged in illegal discrimination and has given Amazon until August 9th to comply with the subpoena.
As of now, Amazon has not commented on the matter, and an EEOC spokesman has declined to provide a statement.
In a separate case, a New York state agency has filed a complaint against Amazon, alleging that the company forced pregnant and disabled warehouse workers to take unpaid leaves instead of providing necessary accommodations.
Amazon has refuted these allegations but admitted that they don't always get it right in their efforts to support their workers.
The EEOC's investigation, initiated last year, also includes a subpoena for information on accommodations provided to warehouse workers with disabilities.
At the time of the subpoena, federal law only allowed for the EEOC to seek information related to disability accommodations.
