Amazon won another victory in its legal battle with Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries over the safety of the e-commerce giant’s warehouses.
The Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, a government agency that hears appeals related to L&I decisions, upheld its ruling to drop four citations alleging unsafe working conditions at some of Amazon’s Washington facilities.
In an order issued last week, the board solidified its ruling that Amazon had not created a dangerous environment for its warehouse workers and had not put them at an increased risk of injury, as L&I had alleged.
Though another step forward for Amazon, the ruling does not put an end to the allegations. L&I plans to appeal the decision to superior court and the case can be tried again using the same record made during the 2023 trial before the board.
“We disagree both with the judge’s characterization of the facts and interpretation of the law,” L&I spokesperson Matt Ross said Wednesday. “State law and the Washington Constitution establish a worker’s right to a safe workplace, and Amazon’s injury record shows they have not protected their workers.”
In four citations focused on three Amazon facilities in Washington, L&I alleged that Amazon put its workers at risk of injury due to repetitive motions and a fast pace of work. Because L&I had cited Amazon for similar reasons in the past, L&I accused the company of “willfully” putting workers in danger in the last of those citations. Amazon disputed all four alleged violations.
After months of testimony, Judge Stephen Pfeifer issued a sweeping ruling in July that dismissed all four citations and cleared Amazon of wrongdoing. Judge Pfeifer ruled that Amazon had a robust health and safety program and found that L&I had been “unpersuasive” in establishing a link between high injury rates and specific jobs at Amazon facilities.
L&I appealed the board’s ruling in September, arguing that it had proven Amazon could reduce the number of injuries if it made certain changes to its policies, equipment, work processes and expectations for employees. L&I accused Amazon of placing the blame for injuries on workers themselves, rather than the company’s decisions.
In its appeal, L&I told the board it had never prosecuted a case with “even a remotely similar level of injuries.”
The board denied L&I’s petition to review the ruling last week, cementing the decision to drop the citations. The order does not include details about how the board came to its conclusion.
If L&I had prevailed, Amazon would have been forced to change its operations, following suggestions from the department’s experts. It also could have set a precedent for other ongoing investigations into Amazon warehouses — in Washington and around the country.
Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel said in a statement this week “we appreciate the Board affirming the judge’s original decision.”
The recent ruling “reinforced the facts and findings” that Amazon offers safe, well-paid jobs, she continued, and that the company is making progress toward its “goal to be the safest company in the industries in which we operate.”
