A Black Amazon.com Inc. manager filed a lawsuit against the e-commerce giant alleging gender and racial discrimination, sexual harassment, as well as violations of the Equal Pay Act.
In the complaint filed in federal court in Washington, DC., Charlotte Newman, head of underrepresented founder startup business development at Amazon Web Services, accused the company of discriminating against Black and female workers while recruiting for its corporate offices.
Newman alleged that Amazon hires Black employees at lower levels and promotes them lesser than White co-workers with similar qualifications.
Newman said she had applied for, and was qualified to work, as a higher-level senior manager at Amazon Web Services four years ago, but the company hired her to work as a public policy manager.
Newman also says the company is paying her and other Black employees less than their non-Black counterparts.
Newman’s attorney wrote in the complaint, “Many of Ms. Newman’s colleagues observed a consistent practice of paying Black employees less than similarly situated White employees, and a near-total lack of Black representation in and very few women in the upper echelons of the group’s leadership.”
The complaint also says she was sexually assaulted and harassed by a senior male employee.
Despite filing the lawsuit, Newman reportedly has decided to continue working at Amazon.
Meanwhile, responding to the lawsuit, Amazon said it was investigating the allegations raised by Newman. The company stated that it works hard to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture and do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind and thoroughly investigate all claims and take appropriate action.
Recode last week reported, based on interviews with diversity managers and internal data obtained, that Black Amazon employees are promoted less frequently and are rated more harshly than non-Black peers.
Amazon recently tried to halt the mail unionization vote at its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse, where 85 percent of the employees are Black. However, the National Labor Relations Board or NLRB rejected the company’s request for a delay in election, and allowed the warehouse workers in Alabama to start their mail-in voting on unionization.
In mid February, the New York State sued Amazon for allegedly violating labor laws by not providing adequate safety protection for its frontline workers in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.
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