Amazon malfeasance corporate ethics.

For years, Amazon has been under government investigations pertinent to allegations of pregnancy discriminations. After five warehouse workers filed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges in 2020 and 2021, the agency opened an ongoing systemic investigation into whether the company fails to accommodate workers’ pregnancies and forces them to take unpaid leaves of absence.

“While we are limited in discussing ongoing legal matters, it’s important to note that all of these cases originated in 2020 and 2021”, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said. “Since then, Amazon has significantly enhanced our pregnancy accommodation procedures, and continues to follow all local laws and regulations”. In 2022, New York State Division of Human Rights filed a separate complaint in a pending case against Amazon with similar allegations.

Despite assertive narratives by the company, workers continue to file EEOC charges against Amazon, claiming their requests for restrictions on heavy lifting and other accommodations were delayed or denied. They include Michelle Posey, a warehouse worker in Oklahoma who, in 2020, collapsed at work due to dehydration and was taken away in an ambulance, and a Virginia employee (named undisclosed), who, in 2024, was allegedly put in roles requiring heavy lifting and use of chemicals that cause reproductive harm, and eventually resigned. While Posey’s charge was resolved in the form of rendering several supportive measures including schedule and assignment changes; the other case is still ongoing.

It was 20 years old Rebecca (name changed) a “stower” at an Amazon warehouse in the Western America, was assigned placing items as heavy as 50 pounds into moving pods. She had conceived in the early 2024. Although she aspired to continue working full-time to save up for her baby’s arrival, but, according to the doctor’s advice, she needed to take regular breaks, limit bending and twisting, and lift no more than 20 pounds at a time. The restrictions were particularly important, as Rebecca, who had a medical condition that made her prone to fainting. But Rebecca complained that her manager issued a memo for sitting down and taking breaks. Shortly thereafter, the higher authority advocated an ultimatum stating that she can keep doing her job the way she wants to do it without the chair or the breaks or else she can go on unpaid leave.

Under United States Federal Law, companies like Amazon are required to provide “reasonable accommodations” to pregnant workers like allowing breaks, chairs to sit on while working, or schedule changes to allow for doctor’s visits. But Rebecca is one of several Amazon employees now alleging that the country’s largest employer of warehouse workers is delaying or failing to make these compliments, culminating to devastating health and financial effects. Scared for the health of her baby, Rebecca went on unpaid leave in May for a few weeks. When Amazon’s Disability and Leave Services team approved a new role in mid-June that would fit her needs, she rejoined the warehouse, only to be told by managers at the site that the role didn’t exist and she couldn’t work more than 20 hours a week. She was assigned a desk, where there was little work to do; she did homework for her associate degree to pass the time. Some weeks, she earned as little as $192. Instead of saving up, she could barely pay rent. As the year progressed, she kept sending regular emails to the DLS team enquiring about updates with regards to her assignments.

Unable to pay rent, Rebecca and her partner moved with their infant into their Nissan Ultima, replacing the passenger seat with a mattress. They parked in Kaiser Permanente hospital parking lots, covering the windows, hoping they wouldn’t be displaced.

While Amazon promotes itself as offering up to 20 weeks of paid leave for birthing parents who are eligible hourly workers, including four weeks before the baby is born. But Rebecca’s leave, which started when she went into preterm labour in September, was unpaid. In an email to Rebecca, DLS explained that her leave didn’t qualify for protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act because she hadn’t worked the required 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months. But a review of her pay stubs by Media representatives found that she had worked more than 1,300 hours over the previous 10 months, and, between two stints at Amazon, had worked at the company for a total of 15 months.

Labour leader Erica Smiley, used the opportunity to talk about the issues encountered by pregnant Amazon warehouse workers. She talked about Jennifer Hatch, a worker in Lancaster, New York, whose manager allegedly refused to let her sit earlier this year even though she was visibly pregnant, had asthma, and was struggling to breathe, according to charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Four times, Hatch clocked out early to go to the emergency room because of severe abdominal pain; Amazon deducted attendance points each time, and, according to the charges, fired her shortly thereafter without warning. An Amazon spokesperson said they couldn’t respond to the details of Hatch’s case, adding that the company works with employees to determine suitable modifications.

Smiley’s address had caught the attention of celebrities, with Jane Fonda, Cynthia Nixon, Sally Field, and other luminaries signed an open letter to Edith Cooper, the chair of Amazon’s Leadership Development and Compensation Committee, calling on the company to respond to pregnant workers’ concerns. “Pregnant Amazon workers are sharing stories of being forced to work at a breakneck pace, and even being forced to lift heavy products and climb tall ladders even with big baby bumps in late pregnancy, resulting severe health complications, miscarriages, and total loss of income with no ability to access parental leave benefits as Amazon workers are either terminated or compelled to quit due to their impossible circumstances”.

Pregnancy discrimination has long been prohibited under the Americans With Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Though some states have required employers to make suitable pregnant friendly working atmosphere for years, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which went into effect in 2023, introduced such protections nationally. These laws are enforced by the EEOC, a federal agency that has been weakened and whose priorities have dramatically shifted under Donald Trump’s regime.

In January, Trump fired two EEOC commissioners, a first in the agency’s 60 years history, leaving the agency until recently without the three-person quorum required to approve impact litigation or issue new guidance. Trump has directed the agency to deprioritise “disparate impact” cases, which involve neutral policies that have an outsized impact on disadvantaged groups.

Andrea Lucas, the Trump appointed acting chair of the commission, is opposed to elements of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act that allow workers time off to get an abortion, and wants to revisit the EEOC’s guidance on the legislation.

House Republicans recently approved a funding bill cutting the budget by $19 million in 2026. By some estimates, the cuts could leave the agency, which advocates have long said is underfunded and understaffed, with almost 50 percent less staff than it had in 1980.

“Everybody who goes to the EEOC needs help, and they needed it yesterday”, says Katherine Greenberg, vice president of litigation at A Better Balance, a legal advocacy group representing several pregnant workers bringing EEOC charges against Amazon. “The members I know at EEOC are hardworking, dedicated, and care about their cases, but you can’t do that when you have 500 cases”.

Revecca hasn’t filed a complaint with the EEOC. While navigating homelessness with a new born, it wasn’t her top priority. But her life now looks dramatically different than it did a year ago. She works at an animal shelter and lives in transitional housing with her partner and her now-toddling one-year-old. She’s talking publicly about her experience at Amazon, and working with a lawyer to assess her options.

Team Maverick