Big Brother is Watching at Amazon: Employee Responses During the Pandemic

The case opens during the COVID pandemic in October 2020 with a protest by two dozen workers of the termination of a Black, female, Muslim employee in Amazon’s Shakopee, Minnesota, plant for taking too much time off task (TOT). She had formed a group to protest working conditions and Amazon’s surveillance system, which tracked the TOT. Employees worked in a very fast-paced environment, processing 1,800 packages per hour, leading to relatively high accident and injury rates. As this case took place in the United States, employees have legal protections against wrongful terminations based on their race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, and national origin. They are also given legal protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to engage in “protected concerted activities” to protest their working conditions. The CI examines the ethical, health, and well-being issues associated with TOT systems and whether Amazon should choose to retain them.