3 Amazon Workers Under Investigation After Speaking Out About Data Centers
Three Amazon employees say they are under internal investigation for allegedly speaking as company representatives without approval, after urging Seattle City Council to regulate data centers.
Earlier this month, five current Amazon employees publicly urged Seattle City Council to regulate data centers. Now, three of them say they are under internal investigation for allegedly representing themselves as spokespeople for the company without prior approval. The software engineers, all based in Seattle, believe they are being targeted for expressing political beliefs.
On Thursday, they filed a joint complaint with Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights, accusing Amazon of retaliation for personal opinions expressed outside work. Attorney Abby Lawlor, advising the employees, noted that Seattle prohibits discrimination based on political beliefs and urged enforcement of that law.
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan previously said the company respects employees’ rights to voice opinions. The affected workers—Darius Irani, Liesel Wigand, and Patrick Schloesser—each received virtual meeting notices from HR, told the investigation could take one to two weeks and result in termination.
The employees, members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, spoke at city council meetings but did not claim to represent Amazon. Two other colleagues who spoke later have not been investigated.
Seattle City Council has since passed a one-year moratorium on new data center construction to develop regulations. The workers argue Amazon has a pattern of silencing collective action, calling the investigation an attempt to intimidate them.
