Amazon Served With First-Ever Joint-Employer Labor Complaint (1)

Amazon.com Inc. is facing its first formal labor complaint involving accusations the e-commerce giant is a joint employer of its delivery drivers and broke federal law by terminating their contract.

A National Labor Relations Board regional director hit Amazon and its delivery service provider Battle Tested Strategies with the complaint Sept. 30 based on a merit determination last month that found the company should be held jointly responsible for drivers at the Palmdale, Calif., DAX8 warehouse, the agency announced Wednesday.

The case could be the first to begin unraveling Amazon’s nationwide network of thousands of contractors, and more broadly make it harder for US businesses to distance themselves from legal liability by outsourcing front-line work. Another NLRB regional director made a similar merit determination Sept. 4 about Amazon’s employment relationship with drivers in Atlanta.

The allegations come amid Amazon’s escalated legal battle with the NLRB over the unionization election at Staten Island’s JFK8 warehouse. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered the agency to halt its administrative proceedings in that case while they consider Amazon’s challenge to the labor board’s constitutionality.

Several dozen BTS drivers unionized with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2023 before Amazon cut its contract with the firm and effectively fired the drivers.

The agency’s 17-page complaint alleges that Amazon and BTS failed to bargain with the union over the effects of terminating the contract, as well as a handful of other legal violations including delaying employee start times and increasing vehicle inspections to discourage union activities.

Acting Regional Director Danielle Pierce also charges the two companies with holding captive audience meetings, giving NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo another opportunity to ask the labor board to rule the mandatory meetings unlawful.

In a statement Wednesday, the Teamsters said the complaint “sets the stage” for over 280,000 other DSP drivers to organize with the union.

“Amazon wants to reap the benefits of drivers’ labor without having to take on any of the responsibility for their wellbeing—and those days are over,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in the statement. “This decision brings us one step closer to getting Amazon workers the pay, working conditions, and contracts they deserve.”

Pierce requested that all of BTS’s former drivers be hired into other contractors operating out of the DAX8 warehouse.

Hearings before an administrative law judge are set for March 2025.

Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement that the union has been “misrepresenting the facts” of the case, referring to other claims by the Teamsters that Amazon had terminated BTS’s contract in retaliation for the organization efforts. The NLRB dismissed these allegations.

“As we’ve said all along, there is no merit to any of their claims,” Hards said. “We look forward to showing that as the legal process continues and expect the few remaining allegations will be dismissed as well.”

The case is Amazon.com Services, LLC, N.L.R.B., No. 31-CA-317349, complaint filed 9/30/24.