The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today sued Amazon in federal court, asking the court to compel Amazon to quickly correct “blatantly unfair labor practices.” Next week, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island will vote in union elections.
The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District Court of New York, involves former Amazon employee Gerald Bryson. He was fired by Amazon early in the coronavirus outbreak for his part in a protest over safety concerns at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island. Amazon said Bryson violated a policy against vulgar and harassing language when he clashed with another employee at the protest. However, workers at the labor agency determined that Amazon fired Bryson in retaliation for organizing the protests.
The case, which has been in the NLRB’s administrative court proceedings for nearly two years, is at issue over which evidence is admissible. Although an administrative court judge has yet to rule, the NLRB believes that, given the union election and Bryson’s involvement in union organizing, a federal judge should force Amazon to make an immediate correction. Voting in the union election will begin next Friday.
The NLRB argues that without immediate judicial relief, Amazon employees “will inevitably conclude that the NLRB cannot effectively protect their rights under federal labor laws.” The NLRB said the judge should have ordered Amazon to restore Bryson’s work immediately, post notices in warehouses and ask Amazon to hold a workers’ meeting to read a labor rights statement.
“Regardless of the size of an employer, it’s important for employees to know their rights, especially during union elections,” Kathy Drew King, head of the NLRB’s regional office, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. , and the NLRB will fully defend their rights.”
Amazon has not commented on the lawsuit, but the company has repeatedly said that firing Bryson was not retaliation, and the company supports the right of employees to publicly discuss labor conditions in the workplace.
In filings with an administrative court judge, the NLRB argued that Amazon had adopted a special policy toward Bryson in retaliation for his organization of the protests.
Amazon has said that Bryson was the initiator of conflict in the protests. At the end of 2020, an Amazon spokesperson said: “We believe the facts of this case are clear and other employees witnessed Bryson bullying and intimidating another female colleague in a racially and sexist manner. This is a clear violation of the our code of conduct and anti-harassment policy.”
Amazon noted in its filing that the company conducted a thorough investigation in good faith before firing Bryson.
A recording in the latest court documents shows much of the altercation between Bryson, who is black, and a white female employee, with both sides speaking rudely. But the detailed description provided by the NLRB suggested that the woman had started most of the altercation. The female employee also repeatedly tried to provoke Bryson to beat her, but Bryson did not do so.
