A new class action lawsuit accuses Amazon of improperly refusing to pay distribution center workers for time spent on daily mandated Covid screens when reporting for work.
On Dec. 22, attorneys with the firms of Werman Salas, of Chicago, and Hodges and Foty, of Houston, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Amazon. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Lisa Johnson and potentially thousands of other workers at Amazon's distribution centers in Illinois.
According to the complaint, Amazon, like other employers imposed a mandated daily Covid screening for its hourly employees amid the onset of the Covid pandemic. Amazon distribution centers across the country required all non-exempt employees to undergo physical and medical exams to screen for Covid symptoms prior to the start of each shift. The Illinois facilities alone employ more than 20,000 workers who would potentially have been impacted by this mandate, according to the complaint.
Maureen Salas
| Werman Salas P.C.
While the on-site screening exams may have represented a common practice, the class action lawsuit accuses Amazon of allegedly improperly not compensating employees for their time during the exams. Since the exams were required for employees to start their shift, the suit contends employees had little option. According to the complaint employees could only clock in after passing the required exam, and were held on-site and required to wait in line until they were called. For most employees, this amounted to about 10-15 minutes, according to the lawsuit. For some, however, the screenings could have held them significantly longer.
Since they could not clock in until passing the exams, if the employee clocked in late as a result of having to wait longer than customary to be called for screening, they were still held accountable and would allegedly be disciplined, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit asserts the allegedly unpaid screenings amounted to violations of the Illinois Minimum Wage Law and the state's Wage and Payment Collection Act.
Johnson is seeking a trial by jury, lost wages including damages, penalties, interest and restitution, along with court costs and legal expenses.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Douglas M. Werman and Maureen A. Salas, of Werman Salas. Chicago, and Don J. Foty, of Hodges and Foty.