Amazon Says Race Bias Suit Over Covid Safety Measures Lacking

Amazon.com Services LLC says that a Black former management associate’s proposed class lawsuit alleging racial bias in the company’s provision of Covid-19 workplace safety measures fails because he never alleges intentional discrimination.

Christian Smalls says in the November 2020 complaint that Amazon doesn’t provide the same personal protective equipment and other Covid safety measures to the mostly minority line workers at its Staten Island fulfillment center as it does to other employees, including its predominantly White management.

That describes unintentional or disparate-impact bias, attorney Jason Schwartz told the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Monday ...