New York’s lawsuit against Amazon to proceed in state courts
(The Center Square) – New York Attorney General Letitia James said she was happy with a federal judge’s ruling late Friday that ordered the state’s lawsuit against Amazon to proceed at the state level.
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff from New York’s Southern District federal court said in the two-page order that he’d issue an opinion explaining the decision “in due course.”
The suit came to Rakoff’s Manhattan court nearly two months ago after the state filed a lawsuit against the online retail giant that claimed the company failed to protect workers from COVID-19.
Amazon then sought to move the case to federal court. Just days before James’ lawsuit, the company filed its own in New York’s Eastern District U.S. District Court seeking to keep the attorney general from trying to exert any regulatory authority over it.
“As we have contended all along, Amazon has forced its employees to work in unsafe conditions throughout this pandemic, in violation of New York state labor laws,” James said in a statement Friday. “We are pleased with today’s decision to allow this case to be heard in state court, where it belongs. We look forward to making our case and continuing our work to protect workers.”
On Monday, a lawyer for James sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn that said the attorney general intended to file a motion to stay that federal case until the state case against Amazon can be resolved.
James filed the suit after a nearly year-long investigation at two New York City Amazon facilities. At the company’s Staten Island warehouse at least 250 workers tested positive for COVID and more than 90 of those people were in the facility within a week of the notice.
The investigation found that the company’s contact tracing program did not properly notify others who encountered COVID-positive workers.
Amazon, on Monday, said would not have a comment on Rakoff’s decision.
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