Amazon has reached a legal settlement in California over claims it failed to adequately inform its warehouse workers about Covid-19 cases in the workplace.
California’s attorney general said workers had been left “terrified and powerless”.
The delivery giant will pay $500,000 (£370,000), but did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing the settlement.
Amazon said the law did not require it to share total numbers of cases with staff, but it had now started to do so.
It is the first application of the state’s “right to know” rules that require employers to keep staff notified.
The legislation requires firms to inform workers promptly of potential Covid exposures at their work sites, to tell them about pandemic-related protections, benefits, disinfection and safety plans, and to report cases to local health agencies.
Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Grait said the company had not broken the law, and had always notified workers of any exposure to cases of the COVID-19 virus and done contract tracing.
“The California law doesn’t specify we had to give numbers in those notifications,” she said. However, the firm was now providing that information within 24 hours for staff at its California sites.
It comes as Amazon is gearing up for the holiday season. US retail spending, including online, is already running higher than this time last year, despite supply chain problems and rising inflation.
However, rates of the virus are also expected to rise, as socialising moves indoors in the colder weather, and as families gather indoors for Thanksgiving
