Amazon is defending itself on multiple fronts over conditions in its U.S. warehouses, with lawsuits and investigations covering injury rates, undisclosed productivity quotas, and the treatment of workers who are injured, disabled, or pregnant. The Amazon warehouse working conditions lawsuits now in play include a federal criminal investigation in New York, a corporate-wide settlement with OSHA, a civil rights complaint by the New Jersey Attorney General, a proposed class action in New York federal court, individual wrongful termination suits in California and Nevada, a heat-exposure trial in California, and multimillion-dollar state enforcement actions over warehouse quota laws. The common thread running through most of them is that Amazon’s pace of work and its automated attendance and accommodation systems punish workers who get hurt or ask for help.
The Federal Criminal Investigation in New York
The most serious active matter is a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into whether Amazon ran a scheme to conceal injury rates and workplace safety hazards at its warehouses nationwide.1U.S. Department of Justice. SDNY Amazon Warehouse Investigation Prosecutors are examining injuries caused by workplace hazards, the effect of rate requirements and pace of work on injuries, and whether Amazon accurately reported on-the-job injuries to regulators.
The investigation, opened under the Biden administration, is also looking at whether Amazon discouraged injury reporting, retaliated against workers who reported injuries, and discouraged employees from seeking outside medical treatment. As of June 2026, the probe remains active, with the office soliciting information from current and former warehouse employees, managers, safety team members, and AmCare staff. No charges have been filed.1U.S. Department of Justice. SDNY Amazon Warehouse Investigation
The OSHA Corporate-Wide Settlement
In December 2024, Amazon and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reached a corporate-wide settlement resolving enforcement actions that began with inspections of ten warehouses in the summer of 2022. OSHA had cited the company for exposing workers to elevated risks of musculoskeletal injuries tied to the pace of work, required body movements, and the weight of items handled, charging violations of the General Duty Clause.2U.S. Department of Labor. OSHA and Amazon Reach Corporate-Wide Settlement
Amazon withdrew its challenges to all ten citations. Nine were resolved without a financial penalty, and one Illinois facility handling bulky items like furniture and televisions was assessed a $145,000 fine.3The New York Times. Amazon Settlement OSHA In return, Amazon committed to a two-year ergonomics program covering all fulfillment centers, sortation centers, and delivery stations under federal OSHA jurisdiction.
The program requires a corporate ergonomics team and a Site Ergonomics Lead at every covered facility. Amazon must conduct layered risk assessments: an initial general screening by facility type, a deeper technical assessment where risks are flagged, and a site-specific assessment of existing controls and remaining hazards. Site-specific assessments must be completed within 90 days of a new facility’s launch and updated annually. The company must also offer ergonomic training at onboarding and anonymous reporting channels. OSHA kept the right to conduct monitoring inspections without a warrant and to bypass the settlement’s dispute resolution process for fatalities, hospitalizations, amputations, or whistleblower complaints.4OSHA. Amazon Ergonomics Settlement Agreement The deal averted ten trials scheduled before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission between January and June 2025. It did not resolve the SDNY criminal investigation.2U.S. Department of Labor. OSHA and Amazon Reach Corporate-Wide Settlement
Disability and Pregnancy Accommodation Cases
A cluster of recent cases accuses Amazon of using automated attendance and leave systems to punish workers who are injured, disabled, or pregnant. The allegations overlap: workers who request accommodations are placed on unpaid leave by default, Unpaid Time Off balances are drained while requests sit in processing queues, and automated emails threaten termination when balances reach zero.
New Jersey Attorney General Complaint
On October 22, 2025, the New Jersey Attorney General and the Division on Civil Rights filed a 10-count complaint in New Jersey Superior Court alleging a widespread pattern of pregnancy and disability discrimination at dozens of Amazon warehouses in the state.5New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. AG Platkin Files Complaint Against Amazon The state accuses Amazon of violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act by automatically placing workers on unpaid leave while accommodation requests were pending, denying reasonable accommodations, retaliating against workers who requested them, and terminating employees who could not meet rigid productivity standards even after accommodations were approved.
Over a recent two-year period, according to the filing, New Jersey warehouse employees made more than 27,000 requests for disability- and pregnancy-related accommodations. Amazon’s internal systems closed requests if medical documentation was not provided within seven days and defaulted to unpaid leave rather than exploring alternative assignments.6New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Platkin v. Amazon Filed Complaint The state seeks an injunction, civil penalties, compensatory damages including lost wages, and punitive damages. Amazon employs roughly 50,000 warehouse workers in New Jersey.
Lyster v. Amazon in New York
On November 12, 2025, a proposed class action was filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Cayla Lyster, an Amazon warehouse worker in Liverpool, New York, who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The suit, brought by A Better Balance and Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, alleges that Amazon’s automated attendance and leave systems punish workers who seek disability accommodations across the company’s New York State logistics facilities.7A Better Balance. Amazon Workers File Class Action
The complaint describes Amazon’s Unpaid Time Off system automatically deducting hours from employees who miss work while their accommodation requests are being processed. Lyster alleges Amazon forced her onto unpaid leave despite available work, ignored approved accommodations such as chair use and ladder restrictions, and that managers subjected her to invasive medical questioning and derogatory comments about her condition.8Lyster v. Amazon.com Services, LLC. Class Action Complaint, Case No. 1:25-cv-09423 The EEOC had previously investigated Lyster’s individual charge in 2024 and found her claims had merit and that Amazon’s UPT deductions had a “chilling effect” on the exercise of her rights.
The proposed class covers all hourly workers in Amazon’s New York logistics facilities from November 12, 2022, through the date of judgment who sought or intended to seek a disability accommodation. Claims are brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and New York Labor Law. Amazon filed a motion to dismiss on January 16, 2026. Judge Valerie Caproni stayed class discovery pending the ruling, and as of mid-2026 the motion remains undecided.9Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Lyster v. Amazon.com Services, LLC
Individual Suits in California and Nevada
Juan Loera-Gomez, a former worker at an Amazon fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California, sued in March 2026 alleging disability discrimination and retaliation. He said he sustained injuries from repeatedly lifting boxes weighing more than 50 pounds over two years. Amazon initially provided accommodations, then placed him on unpaid leave despite his ability to work, and terminated him by email in January 2026.10Warehouse Workers Resource Center. Amazon Worker Lawsuit
Lashone Brown, a Las Vegas warehouse worker, filed a federal lawsuit in Nevada in February 2026 after being terminated in October 2025 while recovering from surgery for work-related hernias. The complaint alleges Amazon’s automated attendance system misclassified his approved medical leave as unexcused absences and that the firing was retaliation for a workers’ compensation claim. Brown raises claims of wrongful termination, failure to accommodate, discrimination, and interference with Family and Medical Leave Act rights.11The Independent. Amazon Warehouse Hernia Surgery Las Vegas Lawsuit Amazon filed its answer in June 2026.12PACER Monitor. Brown v. Amazon.com Services LLC
Productivity Quota Enforcement
In June 2024, the California Labor Commissioner cited Amazon for 59,017 violations of the state’s Warehouse Quotas law at two distribution facilities in Moreno Valley and Redlands, assessing penalties of $5,901,700. The violations, between October 2023 and March 2024, stemmed from Amazon’s failure to give workers written notice of productivity quotas as required by Assembly Bill 701, which took effect in January 2022.13California Department of Industrial Relations. Citation Against Amazon for Warehouse Quotas Law Violations The law requires warehouse employers to tell workers exactly what production speeds are expected and what discipline follows for missing them.
Amazon argued it did not use a quota system, instead calling its tracking method a “peer-to-peer evaluation system.” The Labor Commissioner rejected that characterization and found the system functioned as an undisclosed quota. Amazon has appealed.14The Seattle Times. Amazon Fined $5.9M Over Productivity Quotas It Says It Doesn’t Set
Similar state laws now reach other Amazon facilities. Washington’s warehouse quota law took effect July 1, 2024, covering companies with 100 or more employees at a single warehouse or 1,000 or more statewide, with the same written-disclosure requirements and protections for rest, bathroom, and safety time.15Washington Department of Labor and Industries. Warehouse Quota Standards Minnesota cited an Amazon facility in Shakopee in April 2024 for ergonomic hazards and failure to provide written quota disclosures, with a $10,500 penalty; Amazon contested those citations.16Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Minnesota OSHA Issues Citations to Amazon New York enacted the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act on February 14, 2025, requiring injury reduction programs, site-level ergonomic assessments, and employee-led safety committees, with compliance beginning June 1, 2025.17New York State Senate. S808 – Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act
The Heat Conditions Trial
Trial began in January 2026 in California in a case brought by former Amazon workers alleging hazardous heat conditions in company warehouses. The case, Britney Brown v. Amazon.com Services LLC, was ongoing as of April 2026 with no verdict reported.18The Guardian. Amazon Workplace Safety Record Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson said the company’s heat prevention policies “exceed state and federal guidance.”
Why the Injury Numbers Are Contested
The size of the problem is itself disputed, and the dispute matters because the SDNY investigation turns on whether Amazon has accurately reported injuries.
The Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions, published a May 2025 report analyzing injury data Amazon submitted to OSHA. It found Amazon reported 39,062 recordable injuries and illnesses in 2024, with 94 percent classified as serious, meaning they required light duty or time away from work. Amazon’s serious injury rate was 6.0 per 100 full-time equivalent workers, compared to 3.0 per 100 at non-Amazon warehouses. Amazon employed 39 percent of U.S. warehouse workers in 2024 but accounted for 56 percent of all serious injuries in the industry. Serious injuries rose 35 percent during Prime Day in July 2024 and 52 percent during the week of Cyber Monday compared to earlier in the holiday season.19Strategic Organizing Center. Failure to Deliver: Amazon Falls Short on Safety The report also noted Amazon’s 2021 goal to cut its injury rate in half by 2025; by 2024, the rate was still more than 80 percent above that target.
Amazon reports the picture differently. The company said its global recordable incident rate improved 43 percent over six years and 14 percent year-over-year in 2025, with lost-time incidents improving 70 percent over the same span, and that it has invested more than $2.5 billion in safety since 2019.20About Amazon. Amazon Workplace Safety Injury Reduction The SOC report argued Amazon uses misleading benchmarks, comparing itself to large-establishment averages that its own data heavily influences rather than to the broader warehouse industry.21The Oregonian. Amazon Says Warehouse Injuries Are Falling, Watchdogs Say They’re Still Too High Musculoskeletal disorders, including sprains and strains from repetitive movements, account for more than half of all recorded injuries.
Amazon’s Response
Across the proceedings, Amazon has said workplace safety is its highest priority. It accepted the OSHA settlement’s ergonomics program and paid the assessed penalty. It points to the $2.5 billion safety investment, year-over-year rate improvements, and the deployment of assistive robotics and engineering controls designed to reduce physical strain. Spokesperson Sam Stephenson told reporters that injuries requiring more than basic first aid had decreased 34 percent over five years.11The Independent. Amazon Warehouse Hernia Surgery Las Vegas Lawsuit
On quotas, Amazon says it does not require employees to meet specific productivity speeds, a characterization California and Washington regulators have rejected based on their own investigations. In its 2025 proxy statement, Amazon said it does not use “specific, fixed productivity quotas” and called critics’ claims misinformation.22Amazon. Amazon 2025 Proxy Statement On the accommodation lawsuits, Amazon had not issued public statements responding to the New Jersey or New York complaints as of mid-2026, though it filed a motion to dismiss in Lyster and a formal answer in Brown.