Woman says Amazon.com fired her because she got ‘long COVID’
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Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A former employee of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ) sued the retailer Monday. She claimed that she was wrongfully fired and she had to repay her wages because she suffered from “long COVID”.
Brittany Hope (29), a former brand manger for Amazon’s Fashion Line The Drop in Manhattan is seeking damages due to alleged violations under the New York City Disability Laws.
Brooklyn resident claimed she was admitted to hospital after getting the flu in February 2020. She had just been hired four months prior and only weeks before the outbreak of coronaviruses began in the United States.
Hope claimed that she realized later she was “seriously sick with COVID” and “long COVID.”
It is not clear from the Manhattan Federal Court complaint whether Hope has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Hope had also filed a complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Amazon didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.
Hope stated that she started having suicidal thoughts after the pandemic hit and began to work 17-hour shifts. Her physical and mental health began to deteriorate.
Amazon blocked her access to work emails and its disability and leave portals because of her request for medical leaves on May 12, 2020.
Amazon claimed she fired her after two months for her “job abandonment”, and then billed her $12 273, for overpayments of wages.
The complaint stated that Hope could not manage the company’s departure process due to her long-term COVID symptoms.
Many Americans are familiar with her failure to get reasonable accommodation. ()Hope’s lawyer Alex Berke made the following statement: “similar to other Amazon employees who have had difficulty balancing the challenges of their own wellbeing with the demands for their jobs.”
Amazon is the U.S.’s second largest private employer and has been long criticised by labor activists for how it treats employees, which labor unions are trying organize at certain facilities.
According to the Seattle-based firm, it provides great benefits and pays its workers well.
Hope v Amazon.com Services LLC, et al., U.S District Court, Southern District of New York. 22-03537.
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