NLRB lawyers say Amazon retaliated after workers walked out over return-to-office policy

In February 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sent an email to the company’s employees outlining new guidelines for returning to work. Previously, individual teams within the company could decide where employees were to work, but Jassy’s email revealed that starting May 1, 2023, most Amazon employees were expected to work from the office at least three days per week. (Some roles, such as salespeople and customer support, were exempt.)

In response, thousands Amazon employees sign petition protested against the new order and went on strike several months later. According to one report, despite protests and resistance, report by InsiderAt a meeting in early August 2023, Jassy reaffirmed the company’s commitment to having employees return to the office for most of the week.

The NLRB complaint alleges that Amazon “inquired” employees about the walkout using its internal Chime system. The employee was first placed in a performance improvement plan by Amazon following their organizing efforts for the walkout and was later “offered a severance payment of nine weeks’ pay upon the employee signing a severance agreement and global release in exchange for their resignation.”

According to NLRB lawyers, all of this occurred because the employee was involved in organizing, and the retaliation was intended to discourage “…protected, organized activities.”

The employee’s name has been redacted from the NLRB complaint. Last year, The Seattle Times Profile One of the walkout organizers, who was placed on a performance improvement plan after the walkout, is what the newspaper describes as “nearly impossible to avoid.” Both the complaint and the article detail how investigators questioned this particular individual about allegedly encouraging other employees to “get angry at Amazon.”

The NLRB general counsel is seeking a variety of reforms from Amazon, including reimbursement for the employee’s “financial losses and job search and work-related expenses,” a letter of apology and a “notice to employees” that must be physically posted at the company’s facilities nationwide, distributed electronically and read by an Amazon representative in a recorded videoconference. The contents of the “notice to employees” were not specified.

Amazon responded to the NLRB’s complaint today, and Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser shared the following statement: Verge,

“The facts of this situation are clear and have nothing to do with whether or not this former employee resisted our guidance to return to the office. She demonstrated consistently poor performance over a period of nearly a year and repeatedly failed to complete projects assigned to her. Despite extensive support and coaching, the former employee was unable to improve her performance and decided to leave the company.”

If Amazon and the employee do not reach an agreement, a hearing is scheduled before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in Seattle on February 4, 2025.