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A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court alleges Amazon has failed to provide adequate state and federally mandated accommodations for mothers working at its Beaumont order fulfillment center who must pump breast milk to bottle feed their babies.
Fernanda Torres, an Amazon employee from Riverside County who filed the suit on behalf of herself and co-workers, seeks unspecified damages for various Labor Code violations.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges Amazon failed to provide reasonable break times and locations for female employees to pump breastmilk.
“Amazon isn’t just harming mothers, they’re harming babies,” Kiley Grombacher, an attorney who represents Torres, said in a statement Friday. “Women are often in pain when they cannot properly pump, and infants fail to get the life-giving nutrients their little bodies need. Amazon is literally interfering with people’s basic biology when they fail to provide basic care for their employees.”
Amazon officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
Torres was the mother of a 5-month-old infant whom she was breastfeeding when she began working at the Amazon fulfillment center in August 2021. On her first day of work, Torres was informed there were adequate lactation facilities, but soon discovered that wasn’t true, according to the lawsuit.
The four-story, 640,000-square-foot fulfillment center that employs more than 1,000 associates dedicates only a single 6-by-6-foot space for lactating employees and is more than a 10-minute walk from most work-stations, Torres alleges.
“Many employees cannot even access the room in the five minutes they are permitted for breaks, let alone pump,” the suit states. “Plaintiff estimates travel time to and from the station is approximately eight minutes each way, plus approximately the fifteen to twenty minutes it takes to pump and clean supplies.”
Torres also alleges she was informed that if she went over five minutes for a bathroom or rest break that Amazon would dock her pay. “As a result, Ms. Torres would only pump during her meal break to avoid such wage penalties,” the suit states. “However, she often suffered engorgement or was unable to pump due to long lines during the 30 minutes afforded for lunch so would have to take extended non-paid breaks.”
The lawsuit alleges other employees also have been unable to pump breastmilk for their infants as a result of Amazon’s policies, adding that least 15 to 20 mothers often needed to use the lactation room at the same time as Torres.
“Plaintiff informed human resources several times of the untenable situation in the lactation room to no avail,” says the complaint. “Instead, when plaintiff returned to work, she was told she would have to work a reduced 32-hour work week instead of a 40-hour work week to accommodate.”
According to the suit, Amazon violated the law by failing to provide adequate accommodations for lactating employees, including reasonable break time to express breast milk for nursing infants,.
“Employers are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk,” the suit states.
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