Amazon hit by lawsuit for saying it failed to provide lunch breaks

• A former Amazon worker has taken legal action against the company over allegations of missed lunch breaks.
• The lawsuit claimed employees were denied the 30-minute meal break required for a five-hour shift.
• He also claimed that workers faced serious understaffing issues and huge workloads.
• See more stories on the Insider business page.

A lawsuit against Amazon that workers did not receive adequate lunch breaks at a California distribution center is ongoing.

The case moved to US District Court California, Northern District on Friday after it was first filed in San Francisco County Superior Court in February.

Former employee Lovenia Scott alleges that Amazon denied staff the 30-minute meal breaks required for each five-hour shift under California law.

The lawsuit claimed that meal breaks had been shortened “due to time spent listening and meeting work-related obligations on their walkie-talkies,” which workers were reportedly required to take with them.

In addition, the lawsuit claims the workers were instructed to take a break “if and when they could get it”.

But according to Scott, who worked at the Vacaville warehouse, there were serious personnel issues and so much work was put on the workers, they were unlikely to be able to take their breaks if they wanted to complete their work on time.

Insider has reached out to Amazon for comment.

These aren’t the only worker rights allegations that Amazon has faced in recent weeks. Reports of workers urinating into bottles in 2018 resurfaced after a Twitter row between the company and Democratic senators, including Bernie Sanders, over the matter.

A Detroit-area delivery boy told Insider that instead of urinating inside vans, she kept him at the point of bladder infections.

Amazon delivery men have also reported that they have to defecate in bags and have difficulty changing sanitary napkins.

The company denied the “pee in bottles” claims and tweeted “if it was true, no one would work for us.” However, documents showing Amazon was aware of the practice of drivers urinating into bottles and defecating into bags were released on Thursday by The Intercept.