France fines Amazon $35 million for excessive worker surveillance
France's National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) slapped Amazon with a hefty $35 million fine for what they call "excessively intrusive" surveillance of workers in Amazon warehouses. The commission found that Amazon France Logistique, which manages the warehouses, recorded the data captured by handheld scanners of the workers. The activity was tracked so precisely that employees had to explain every interruption, even those lasting just a minute. Amazon has disagreed with CNIL's ruling, calling these conclusions "factually incorrect."
Investigative findings reveal several violations
The investigation, sparked by press reports, discovered Amazon's methods for monitoring and limiting scanning speed were over the top. They included an alert that was triggered if an item was scanned too fast or less than 1.25 seconds after scanning another item. Another alert signaled employee breaks of 10 or more minutes. Finally, there was a third alert tracking breaks between one to 10 minutes.
Issues with Amazon's data collection
CNIL also found issues with Amazon's data collection and retention practices and their downtime measurements. The agency claimed that Amazon planned work in its warehouses, using the data collected by the scanners. It also evaluated employees every week and trained them, based on the same data. Amazon's practices put constant pressure on employees, breaking the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules.
Amazon defends warehouse management systems
In response to the fine, Amazon released a detailed statement defending its warehouse management systems as standard industry practice. The company argued that these systems are essential to "make the daily lives of its employees easier" and guarantee their safety and efficiency. Interestingly, workers in the US and UK have also raised concerns about similar surveillance problems, including non-stop camera monitoring by managers and AI.
