BLACK AND LATINO DRIVERS FILE CLASS ACTION DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS
AGAINST AMAZON
Complaints Allege Amazon Illegally Fired Drivers Based On Overly Stringent Background Checks
A group of eight Black and Latino former Amazon drivers filed class action complaints today with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), charging that Amazon illegally discriminated against them and other similarly-situated drivers when it fired them last year. The complaints allege that Amazon’s mass termination of predominantly minority drivers was based on an overly stringent background check policy that included old and minor offenses, and came months after the drivers were on the job and performing successfully.
“Our clients are all hard-working individuals who were doing a great job delivering packages for Amazon,” said Oren M. Sellstrom, Litigation Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, one of the attorneys representing the drivers. “Amazon’s decision to fire them had nothing to do with their ability to perform the job, but was based solely on an overly strict background check policy. That is not only poor business practice, it also violates federal and state anti-discrimination laws.”
Steve Churchill, an attorney with Fair Work, P.C. and another of the drivers’ counsel, noted that employers’ use of background checks often disproportionately affects Black and Latino workers, due to over-policing and over-incarceration of communities of color. “If an employer’s policy has a disparate impact on workers of color and is not job-related, then that constitutes illegal discrimination,” he said. Mr. Churchill noted that the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidance to employers outlining this ground for liability and cautioning against restrictive background check policies.
The terminated drivers bringing the complaint against Amazon include:
David Milton, from the Law Offices of Howard Friedman, P.C., another of the attorneys representing the fired drivers, noted that Amazon made no individual assessment for any of the drivers they fired: “Amazon just treated the drivers like widgets that could be ‘de-activated’ at will. That is no way to treat employees. It’s also illegal, and by filing today’s complaints we are seeking justice for these drivers and others like them.”
The drivers’ complaints are filed “on a class basis” and allege that “numerous individuals in Massachusetts and across the country have been and continue to be adversely affected” by Amazon’s background check policies. The complaints state that “the public interest is plainly served by a class proceeding based…on the importance of eliminating discriminatory policies that disproportionately impact disadvantaged communities.” Complaints filed at MCAD may be removed to court after 90 days.
Our class action fighting discrimination at this tech giant was featured in the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, Mass Live, BNN, NECN, WGBH, and NBC News.