Second Circuit Skeptical About Amazon Covid-Based Race Bias Suit

A Black former Amazon manager faced a seemingly skeptical Second Circuit Tuesday in his bid to revive a lawsuit alleging he was fired because of his race and for complaining that the company’s early Covid-19 safety measures intentionally discriminated against his Staten Island facility’s mostly minority line workers.

Christian Smalls also says he has standing to lead a race bias class action on behalf of the line workers. Smalls is the co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union, which workers at his former warehouse voted to join in April. His lawsuit here doesn’t include claims directly based on any union ...