A federal judge in New York has ordered Amazon.com to comply with a subpoena from a US civil rights agency that is investigating claims that the online retailer discriminated against pregnant warehouse workers.
US District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan late Thursday rejected Amazon’s claim that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) subpoena was too broad and sought irrelevant information.
The EEOC is seeking data about requests made by pregnant workers at five U.S. warehouses for accommodations such as lifting limits and extra breaks, and whether Amazon granted them.
The commission’s investigation was launched following complaints from five women who said they faced pregnancy discrimination while working at Amazon warehouses in New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina and California.
According to court documents, Amazon provided more than 200,000 pages of data to the EEOC in response to the subpoena, but did not provide the specific information the agency sought.
Schofield said in his ruling that the information sought in the subpoena was necessary for the EEOC to determine whether Amazon engaged in illegal discrimination. The judge gave Amazon until August 9 to comply with the subpoena.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. An EEOC spokesperson declined to comment.
In 2022, a New York state agency filed an administrative complaint accusing Amazon of requiring pregnant and disabled warehouse workers to take leave without pay, even if they were able to work, rather than providing accommodations. That case is pending.
Amazon has denied any wrongdoing and said it strives to support its workers, but acknowledged in a statement responding to New York’s complaint that “we don’t always make the right decisions.”
The EEOC began its investigation last year and issued a subpoena seeking five categories of information, including data on the benefits Amazon provided to warehouse workers with disabilities. At the time, federal law required companies to provide pregnant employees with the same benefits they provided to employees without disabilities.
A law passed last year requires employers to take workers’ pregnancies into account regardless of how they treat workers with disabilities.
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