Oh wow $5.9M
Where are going to get their peanuts from now?
Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
141–150 of 253 posts
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#142[flagged]
Sigh. HN users aren't saying that. They get upset because the fine is utterly fucking irrelevant and does not serve as a deterrent in any way shape or form.
To AMZN, the fines are irrelevant. But what about the manager (or whatever meme equivalent middle managment outside of c-suite) that was thinking they could get away with something so their bonus would go up? If AMZN decides not pay bonuses for the people involved, would that be a deterrent for other middle managers from doing the same?
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#143Retail has had labor quotas (with serious health/mental consequences) since time immemorial, but i don't see any outrage against Sears, ToysRus, or BedBath. Why ?
You do realize that all 3 of the companies you listed are all bankrupt, yeah?
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#144Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#145Maybe I'm not following, but I'm seeing tons of responses saying that a low fine is alright because this is a local violation. What is the reasoning there? Doesn't the profit go to the corporation as a whole?
The penalty must be proportionate to the crime. Otherwise, there's a good chance a higher court will overturn it.
It doesn't matter where the profits go; in this case, management at two warehouses did something wrong, and the fine reflects the scope of the harm done.
If this could be proven to be happening illegally at every warehouse nationwide, then it becomes a larger issue and there will be larger personalities.
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#146That's, what? Half an hour of operation to them?
In Finland, speeding fines are based on your income. Can we have that, but for corporations?
I was told that in Monaco, if you are caught speeding in a supercar, your fine is much more than if you are caught speeding on your moped. I thought that seemed fair to me. Whether it is true or not is something I never looked up as I will never be in the situation of needing to know. If it's not true, then seems like a waste of a good idea that people seem to want to be true.
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#147[flagged]
Additionally California PAGA lawsuits are notorious for nearly bankrupting small businesses. This case wasn't PAGA, but still people need to realize that sometimes these things are more nuanced than they appear. Infractions are 200 dollars per infraction for every employee, and are religiously perused by private law firms. For example, if a company with 100 employees let employees take lunch whenever they wanted, the…
A business employing 100 people should have at least a General Counsel, if not multiple lawyers who can advise them such that they structure their break schedule to not violate state law. That's literally the purpose of having in-house legal counsel.
Heck, a business employing 2 people should have a legal advisor. If I were starting a startup with my own money, a lawyer would be employee number one.
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Additionally California PAGA lawsuits are notorious for nearly bankrupting small businesses. This case wasn't PAGA, but still people need to realize that sometimes these things are more nuanced than they appear. Infractions are 200 dollars per infraction for every employee, and are religiously perused by private law firms. For example, if a company with 100 employees let employees take lunch whenever they wanted, the…
A business employing 100 people should have at least a General Counsel, if not multiple lawyers who can advise them such that they structure their break schedule to not violate state law. That's literally the purpose of having in-house legal counsel. Heck, a business employing 2 people should have a legal advisor. If I were starting a startup with my own money, a lawyer would be employee number one.
Lawyers don't know all the (state or federal) laws, they do not pretend to be able to assess all your legal risks, just some of the most likely ones.
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Based on numbers's numbers above, the fine is 0.001039% of their annual revenue. If your salary was $100k, an equivalent fine would be $1.04. Wouldn't people speed more often if they got caught once a year and paid a $1 fine? Why do you think we should be so much more lenient with companies that knowingly break the law and make life worse for thousands of less fortunate people?
It was for two specific locations, so it seems it should be based on something related to those specific location, rather than worldwide profits across all, unrelated, business units.
In countries with day-fines (like Finland), do you get fined less for speeding if you were driving to your side gig where you make less money than your day job?
Re: Amazon fined $5.9M for breaking labor law in California
#150The company “failed to provide written notice of quotas” to employees, as required. Tape a sheet of paper on the wall with the numbers, done. Meanwhile, the antipathy of jealousy is palpable.
If you taped a paper on the wall to notify employees of each disclosure required, you'd probably run out of viable wall space before you ran out of notices.