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Employees injured while working for Amazon have turned to GoFundMe, an online fundraising site, claiming they have been denied compensation and benefits.
Speaking to the Guardian, three workers say the company – which has pledged to become “Earth’s safest place to work” – did not act on concerns raised about the risks of warehouse work, and following injuries has failed to offer compensation.
Keith Williams, a worker at a warehouse in Rock Tavern, New York, reports two injuries he experienced at Amazon, the second of which was a shot of pain to his wrist and elbow. Williams says he sustained the injury as he was not rotated between intense and lighter work, and was repeatedly lifting heavy packages.
He adds that he waited for an hour after his injury at Amcare, Amazon’s own medical care unit, but left after waiting an hour without being seen.
Since the incident, Williams has been unable to work and says he is yet to receive disability benefits as he was not employed at Amazon for a full year before he was hurt. He has since launched a GoFundMe while he recovers from the injury.
Christine Manno, another worker at a warehouse near St Louis, Missouri, tells the Guardian she has been suffering severe carpal tunnel symptoms due to the repetitive motions of her job since August 2021.
Despite surgeries and physical therapy, Manno says she has continued to struggle with grueling shifts. After some resistance, Manno was able eventually able to secure disability benefits, and began working with restrictions at the recommendation of a doctor.
However, in July 2023, Manno says Amazon told her they would no longer accommodate her restrictions, and with her short-term disability benefits have since been exhausted, Amazon are yet to grant her long-term benefits.
Awaiting a decision, Manno has launched a GoFundMe. “They keep telling me they need more documentation, yet workers compensation won’t let me see a doctor to get more documentation, but I can’t get treatment because when they know it’s a work injury, they won’t authorize treatment through health insurance,” Manno says. “I have multiple bill collectors calling 20, 30 times a day. It’s been hell.”
A third worker, Nik Moran, who is also based out of the Rock Tavern warehouse, describes incident in August 2023 in which he smashed his finger.
“I went back to work right away,” he tells the Guardian, adding this is because Amazon’s worker compensation unit “doesn’t pay you for the first week.”
“It’s just a bureaucratic, terrible process,” he adds.
Moran says he obtained legal support as he was aware of difficulties Amazon workers had faced in getting coverage and compensation for medical care following injuries sustained on the job.
“Amazon talks a big game about safety, but their main priority is productivity,” Moran alleges. “Safety is an afterthought.”
Amazon says claims include “a lot of inaccurate information”
Responding to the Guardian, an Amazon spokesperson said: “Our employees’ safety and health is our top priority. While we usually don’t comment on employees’ individual circumstances, these individuals have unfortunately chosen to share a lot of inaccurate information.”
The spokesperson did not identify what it believed to be inaccurate.
The company has historically faced criticism from workers over the healthy and safety practices in its warehouse; the quality of its medical care unit; and the complexity of its processes for securing accommodations, compensation, and benefits following job-related injuries.
Amazon says it has “thoroughly investigated” each of the claims from the three workers, and while it has found some issues, has addressed the concerns as appropriate.
The Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of trade unions, releases annual reports on Amazon’s injury rates and has done so since 2020 when the rate stood at 6.6 injuries per 100 workers.
Despite Amazon’s plans to become the world’s safest employer, which included a goal announced in 2020 to halve its injury rate, the current rate lies at 6.5 injuries per 100 workers.
The Guardian also shares a report from the National Employment Law Project, which found that Amazon’s injury rate at its warehouses was nearly three times the rate at Walmart.
Amazon similarly denied the claims made by the two reports, stating: “These papers are full of misleading and false information, and are created by groups who refuse to accept that we’ve made real progress because doing so would undercut their agenda.”
