Amazon settles Teamsters case accusing it of worker retaliation

Amazon has vowed not to retaliate against workers who go on strike as part of a settlement with federal labor officials.

The company will restore unpaid time off that it “illegally” docked from employees who walked off the job and “ensure all Amazon workers can strike in the future without losing their UPT,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Tuesday in a release.

More than 100 employees will have unpaid time off restored, according to the National Labor Relations Board settlement.

Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards told CNBC in a statement that it didn’t admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

“While we believe our team managed these situations appropriately, we’ve agreed to resolve the matter so we can move forward and continue working directly with our employees to make Amazon a great place to work,” Hards said in a statement.

Amazon gives frontline workers a limited number of hours of unpaid leave, which it said can be used for “last minute issues or emergencies,” according to an internal employee handbook cited in the NLRB’s complaint. Employees risk being fired if they use more UPT hours than they’re allotted.

The NLRB cited several cases since 2022 where Amazon deducted employees’ UPT after they walked out. In at least one case, striking workers feared they would lose their job after their UPT “went negative” once it was deducted by Amazon, according to the complaint.

“Those deductions and points are unlawfully coercive in and of themselves, because they warn employees that their protected activity is inching them ever closer to termination,” the NLRB wrote.

The Teamsters, one of the largest labor unions in the U.S., has long sought to organize Amazon warehouse and delivery workers. It created an Amazon division in 2021 to support and fund workers at the company in their unionization efforts.

Amazon’s frontline employees have attempted to organize their workplaces, with varying levels of success, for over a decade. Only two Amazon facilities, a Staten Island warehouse and a Whole Foods store in Philadelphia, have held successful union drives.

Amazon workers at seven U.S. delivery hubs walked off the job in December 2024 in a strike organized by the Teamsters. The union has said it represents nearly 10,000 Amazon workers, though the company denies this.

Amazon maintains that its employees have the right to choose whether or not to join a union. But the company has faced widespread scrutiny from employees, lawmakers and federal agencies over its labor practices and has been accused of anti-union tactics.

The NLRB accused Amazon in 2024 of maintaining an “overly broad” attendance policy that “discreetly threatens employees nationwide with consequences up to and including discharge, should they walk out or go on strike,” which violates federal labor laws.

The NLRB complaint stemmed from charges filed by the Teamsters, as well as Amazon workers at facilities in states including New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, Georgia and Minnesota.

According to the settlement, Amazon has agreed not to terminate or “otherwise discriminate against” employees who went over their UPT balance, or were docked UPT hours after they participated in a strike or work stoppage.

The company will also post a notice in employee break rooms at “all 1,300 Amazon facilities nationwide” informing workers of their right to organize and the terms of the settlement, the Teamsters said.