Shweta Tambade
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a petition in a court to direct Amazon.com Inc. to obey subpoenas that are due over a state investigation regarding the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The petition was filed at the Sacramento County Superior Court, California.
Xavier Becerra accused Amazon of lacking to competently follow the state’s information requests as part of an investigation into the company’s coronavirus protocols and the status of COVID-19 cases at its California facilities.
“Amazon has delayed responding adequately to our investigative requests long enough,” Becerra said in the petition.
The petition also said that the subpoenas pursue information about Amazon’s sick-leave policies, sanitation measures, and data about the spread of the virus at the company’s California warehouses.
An Amazon spokeswoman, Jodi Seth, in a statement, said that the company has been coordinating with Becerra’s office for months.
“We’re puzzled by the attorney general’s sudden rush to court. … Their claims of noncompliance with their demands don’t line up with the facts,” Seth said.
The company has invested heavily in on-site testing for employees and personal protective equipment during the pandemic, said Seth.
According to the petition, the attorney general had investigated Amazon in the spring of this year, when news about working conditions at Amazon’s in-state facilities raised concern.
In May, The Guardian reported that Amazon had rejected a few requests for paid sick leave. The activists had claimed that it violated a California law giving two weeks to staff at facilities where food is stored, like Amazon’s.
The pro-worker group IE Amazonians Unite said it reached the state officials on the matter and that ultimately Amazon informed the personnel about the paid leave opportunity.
In October, Amazon has said that it has adhered to the state law.
