Shortly after the State Senate approved it, the New York State Assembly passed a bill aimed at limiting productivity quotas in warehouses.
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act, introduced in April by New York State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Latoya Joyner, targets Amazon’s labor practices.
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Ramos and Joyner improved the language and expanded on a similar bill signed into law in California in 2021.
According to CNBC, the legislation will require Amazon and other warehouse operators to provide workers with documentation of their production quotas and to notify them of any changes.
It can help workers who want to make changes in their workplace for health reasons, and it will require companies to conduct an ergonomic assessment of all tasks workers must complete.
Companies that are found to be noncompliant by the New York State Department of Labor may face penalties New York Assembly bill. Furthermore, it would prohibit businesses from imposing quotas that would prevent employees from taking meal and bathroom breaks.
Amazon employees have long complained that when they take too long between scanning packages, the company’s internal system flags them as “time off task.”
This results in a warning, which could lead to termination. When they introduced the bill, Ramos explained that productivity quotas prevent workers from meeting safety standards and contribute to rising injury rates in warehouses.
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The company is consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous workplaces in the United States by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.
However, Heather MacDougall, Amazon’s workplace safety director, stated at a recent event that the company does not have quotas. “We don’t,” she explained.
The fate of the bill is now in the hands of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
