Amazon: New fine of 32 million euros for spying on its employees in France 1

Amazon: New fine of 32 million euros for spying on its employees in France

Amazon warehouse worker smartphone

The French data protection authority CNIL said Amazon, through its subsidiary Amazon France Logistique, was using scanners to monitor the performance and behavior of its employees. Amazon tracked how quickly they scanned items, how long they took breaks, and how much time they spent doing nothing.

CNIL stated that these indicators were not based on a legitimate interest, but rather on a legitimate interest. Excessive surveillance that puts workers under constant pressure and allows Amazon to reap economic gains.

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Amazon monitored the performance of warehouse workers

Amazon reportedly tracks the speed at which workers scan itemsThe standard is 1.25 seconds to distinguish between potential errors and quality work production. Any item scanned less than 1.25 seconds after the previous item was scanned was more likely to result in worker error.

CNIL also stated:Amazon kept data for at least 31 daysit was too long and did not inform workers and visitors of the surveillance, which was a violation of the GDPR. As a reminder, GDPR is the European Union’s data protection law that came into force in 2018 and gives individuals greater control over their personal data and imposes hefty fines on organizations that misuse it.

The same goes for company outage metrics, according to the CNIL: Requiring employees to justify every interruption, even if it’s just for a minute. Therefore, every employee was literally monitored throughout the day.

Amazon AI social distance warehousesAmazon AI social distance warehouses

The CNIL said it decided to impose a significant fine on Amazon because the monitoring of workers differs from traditional methods. It was implemented on a large scale, comprehensively and permanently, leading to very close and detailed control of workers’ work. L.The CNIL added that such control is illegal and undermines the dignity and rights of workers.

Amazon denies CNIL accusations

In a statement, Amazon said it strongly disagreed with the CNIL’s conclusions, which it described as “factually incorrect.” Amazon said it reserved the right to appeal the penalty and warehouse management systems are compliant with industry standards and are essential to ensure safety, quality and efficiency. Amazon says it respects its employees’ privacy and complies with GDPR.

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The company also claims that such efficiency would be impossible without the use of these scanners, as it aims to continuously move tens of thousands of items while ensuring minimum quality standards. Amazon also defended this The use of warehouse management systems was standard practice in the industry and that their systems comply with applicable European and French regulations.

This isn’t the first time Amazon has encountered serious problems in France. The technology giant temporarily suspended all its activities in the country in 2020 after a French court ruled that it did not do enough to protect its employees from the Covid-19 virus.