Amazon sued in US for ‘stealing’ delivery driver tips
The District of Columbia on Wednesday said it is suing Amazon for allegedly stealing tips from drivers delivering its Flex service to reduce labor costs and increase profits.
The lawsuit accused Amazon of violating local laws regarding fraudulent commercial practices and came in defiance Company compensated drivers as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
“When a company is caught stealing workerit wasn’t enough for the company to return the stolen money,” Karl Racine, attorney general for the local government of Washington, DC, argued in suit.
“Worker theft is theft, and severe penalties are needed to strongly discourage this illegal practice.”
The lawsuit against Amazon.com and Amazon Logistics alleges that between late 2016 and mid-2019, the e-commerce giant tricked consumers into thinking that the tip would go to Flex service drivers when it did. used to reduce operating costs.
“Amazon, one of the wealthiest companies in the world, certainly doesn’t need to tip workers,” Racine said in a press release.
“Amazon can and should do better.”
Amazon launched Flex in 2015, giving drivers the opportunity to earn between $18 and $25 per hour, plus tips for using their own vehicle to deliver groceries or packages to the company. company.
The lawsuit alleges that the following year, Amazon changed its driver payment model in a way that resulted in a large portion of the tip being used to secretly subsidize drivers.
“For us, nothing is more important than the trust of our customers,” Amazon spokeswoman Maria Boschetti said in response to a question from AFP.
“This lawsuit relates to a practice we changed three years ago and has no basis—all customer tips involved were paid to drivers as part of a settlement last year with the FTC.”
© 2022 AFP
quote: Amazon sues in US for ‘stealing’ delivery driver tips (2022, Dec 8) retrieved Dec 8, 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-amazon -sued-delivery-driver.html
This document is the subject for the collection of authors. Other than any fair dealing for private learning or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content provided is for informational purposes only.