French Regulator Imposes €32 Million Fine on Amazon for Intrusive Worker Surveillance
A French regulator, the CNIL (French Data Protection Authority), has fined Amazon’s French warehouse operator, Amazon France Logistique, €32 million ($35 million) for implementing an “excessively intrusive” surveillance system to monitor the activities of its workers.
The CNIL stated that Amazon provided warehouse staff with scanners that meticulously recorded periods of inactivity and the speed at which they completed specific tasks.
The scanner system, deemed “excessive” by the CNIL, faced criticism for its precision in measuring work interruptions, potentially requiring employees to justify every break or interruption. Amazon strongly disagreed with the CNIL’s conclusions and reserved the right to file an appeal, asserting that warehouse management systems are industry-standard tools crucial for ensuring safety, quality, and operational efficiency.
The scanners employed in France gauged whether a worker scanned an item within 1.25 seconds after the previous scan, aiming to reduce the risk of errors. Amazon, in response to CNIL’s concerns, decided to deactivate the collection of this specific data. Additionally, the system identified staff as “idle” if their scanners remained inactive for at least 10 minutes, a metric Amazon claimed helped identify issues affecting operations and employee safety. The company committed to extending the threshold for logging “idle time” to 30 minutes.
The CNIL criticized the surveillance system for maintaining continuous pressure on employees during tasks and argued that it provided Amazon with a competitive advantage in the online sales market.
The fine, imposed in late December, followed investigations into Amazon’s warehouse practices and employee complaints. The CNIL found that Amazon France Logistique retained staff performance data for an “excessive” duration of 31 days, violating EU data protection law.
While Amazon in the United States has faced ongoing scrutiny for working conditions in its warehouses, this fine highlights the regulatory challenges associated with the use of surveillance systems to monitor employee activities.
