- Amazon is investigating three employees over comments made at a council meeting
- The employees spoke during a discussion on a one year moratorium on data center construction
- Amazon said that it “may or may not take action based on what we find.”
Amazon is investigating a group of employees who attended council meetings discussing a year-long moratorium on planned data center constructions.
Five employees, who work as engineers, criticized the “all-costs-justified AI build out” that has caused data center construction projects to spread rapidly across the US.
Since attending then, three engineers were invited to separate meetings with Amazon’s human resources to investigate their testimony at the meetings, according to a complaint filed with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.
Amazon investigates employees critical of data center buildout
In their separate meetings with HR, the employees were warned that the investigation could lead to disciplinary action, ranging up to termination.
The complaint states that employees were made to feel “intimidated and uncertain in their future employment”.
The complaint further stated that, “Amazon was monitoring their political advocacy before the Seattle City Council and was seeking to identify additional employees who had engaged in political activities.”
Under Seattle Law, personal characteristics such as political ideology, race, religion and age cannot be used for discriminatory purposes by companies against their employees.
Speaking to CNBC, Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said that the employees may have been speaking as representatives of Amazon, rather than as private citizens, adding that those speaking as Amazon representatives must follow certain procedures.
“We believe it’s important to apply our policies consistently so, just as we would with anyone else, we’re investigating whether there was a violation of our policies and may or may not take action based on what we find,” Callahan said in a statement.
Darius Irani, one of the employees involved in the council hearings, said in a statement “All I did was testify because I believe it’s critical that the government regulates data centers and AI. Workers need to be involved in these conversations.”
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benedict.collins@futurenet.com (Benedict Collins)
