Amazon, Citing Vaccines, Seeks End to Virus Safety Claims Appeal

Amazon.com Inc. asked a federal circuit court in New York to dismiss workers’ bid to revive claims that the company must adopt Covid-19 safety protocols at a Staten Island facility, saying the issue is moot because of improved pandemic conditions.

“Vaccines are now widely available to anyone who wants one and most adult New Yorkers already have received at least one shot,” Amazon said in a motion filed Tuesday. “Businesses in New York have reopened at full capacity, and the Governor recently allowed the State’s official emergency declaration to expire.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in May heard oral argument in the workers’ bid to reinstate their lawsuit against Amazon.

The workers claimed in their June 2020 lawsuit that Amazon’s failure to protect them from the virus created an unlawful public nuisance. They also alleged the company violated state law on an employer’s duty to protect its workers. A federal judge threw out the case in November, ruling the workers should have gone to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with their complaints.

Amazon now argues that there’s no “live case or controversy” for the Second Circuit to rule on, saying there’s no reason for it to adopt the workers’ preferred safety measures when vaccines are widely available and businesses are operating without restrictions.

The company’s motion only applied to the workers’ appeal of the judge’s ruling on the safety-related portions of their lawsuit. It doesn’t concern their wage claims, also on appeal.

The workers oppose the company’s attempt to get the appeal dismissed, said Juno Turner, one of their attorneys.

“This filing is part of Amazon’s ongoing effort to return to business as usual—including resuming the productivity policies challenged by our lawsuit—despite the ongoing risks to workers and the recent uptick of covid cases in New York City, driven by the delta variant,” Turner, litigation director at Towards Justice, said in an email.

Amazon’s lawyer, Jason Schwartz of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, didn’t immediately respond to telephone and email requests for comment.

The case is Palmer v. Amazon, 2d Cir., No. 20-03989, Motion filed 7/13/21.