New York lawmakers pass bill limiting warehouse productivity quotas

The New York State Assembly has handed a bill that goals to restrict productivity quotas in warehouses shortly after it was accepted by the State Senate. Introduced by New York State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Latoya Joyner again in April, the Warehouse Worker Protection Act takes intention at Amazon’s labor practices. Ramos and Joyner strengthened the language and expanded upon an identical bill in California that was signed into regulation again in 2021.

As CNBC notes, the laws would require Amazon and another company that operates warehouses to supply employees with documentation of their productivity quotas and to inform them of any modifications. It could make the method simpler for employees in search of modifications of their workplace for well being functions, and it’ll require firms to undergo an ergonomic evaluation of all duties employees want to perform. Companies may face penalties if the New York State Department of Labor finds them non-compliant. In addition, it will prohibit firms from implementing quotas that may forestall employees from taking meal and toilet breaks. 

Amazon employees have lengthy complained that the company’s inside system marks them as taking “time off task” after they take too lengthy between scanning packages. That generates a warning that would result in being fired. Ramos defined after they launched the bill that productivity quotas forestall employees from complying with security requirements and contribute to rising harm charges in warehouses. The company persistently makes it on the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s listing of most harmful workplaces within the US. Heather MacDougall, Amazon’s workplace security head, claimed at a latest occasion, nevertheless, that it is a false impression that the company has quotas. “We do not,” she stated.

The bill’s destiny is now within the fingers of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.