Amazon Tries To Avoid Facing Its Drivers In Court
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Contact
Towards Justice: press@towardsjustice.org | Public Justice: Megan Varvais, mvarvais@publicjustice.net
RELEASE: Amazon Tries To Avoid Facing Its Drivers In Court
Denver, CO — Yesterday, former Amazon delivery drivers gathered with their attorneys and other transportation and delivery workers in Denver to draw attention to Amazon’s efforts to squelch and delay their lawsuit against the company in which they allege that Amazon forces delivery drivers to meet delivery metrics that deny them reasonable access to the bathroom. The drivers are represented by Towards Justice, Public Justice, Farmstand, and Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC.
Amazon’s litigation ploy seeks to exploit fine-print forced arbitration provisions to prevent drivers from getting a fair shot in court. Workers say they had no choice but to sign these fine-print contracts with the Delivery Service Partners that serve as their direct employer. Amazon is not a party to the arbitration provisions.
Writes VICE News, “Amazon contends that because these drivers signed arbitration agreements when they took jobs at their relevant DSPs, they must now not go to court and instead settle the complaints privately.” The article’s headline reads: “Amazon is trying to stop a lawsuit from drivers who peed in bottles from going to court.”
If Amazon succeeds with this motion, it would prevent the case from proceeding in court as a class action. Even if Amazon is unsuccessful, the tactic threatens to delay the litigation. During that delay, according to the lawsuit, Amazon delivery drivers rushing to meet Amazon’s harsh delivery metrics across Colorado are forced to urinate in bottles, defecate in bags, and hold their urine at the risk of great physical harm to keep their jobs.
These conditions are worse at this time of year, when Amazon drivers are forced to deliver even more packages in advance of the holidays; the company delivered 15 billion packages during the 2020 holiday season.
“Amazon’s trying to hide behind some pieces of paper that say, ‘Hey, you signed up for this, so you can’t sue us.’ My rights and the rights of thousands of drivers are being violated right now,” said Ryan Schilling, one of the plaintiffs in the case against Amazon. “There are people delivering you a microwave, coffeepot […] and they don’t have the option to go use a bathroom.” Schilling, a veteran of the Iraq War, has often said it was easier to find and use the bathroom in an active war zone than it is as an Amazon driver.
“If Amazon’s customers knew the truth about the conditions their delivery drivers are working under, they would be horrified,” said Public Justice Senior Attorney Shelby Leighton. “That’s why Amazon is trying to use forced arbitration to make this lawsuit disappear before it even starts.”
Said Towards Justice Executive Director David Seligman, “Amazon is trying to have it both ways. They’re saying that they shouldn’t have to go to court because they don’t employ these drivers directly, but they still control every element of these workers’ days and surveil them constantly while they work. And they want to continue controlling and surveilling these workers.”
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