Amazon faces a $5.9 million penalty for breaking California's labor laws.

• Amazon was fined $6 million by California's labor regulator for violating the state's Warehouse Quotas law.
• Officials discovered that two Amazon warehouses in Southern California did not provide written notices of quotas.
• Amazon has previously denied using fixed quotas at its warehouses.

Nearly $6 million in fines were imposed on California's labor regulator for violating a law aimed at reducing warehouse productivity quotas.

Officials announced that the Labor Commissioner's office in California discovered 59,017 violations of the state's Warehouse Quotas law at two Amazon facilities in Moreno Valley and Redlands, both situated east of Los Angeles. This has sparked concerns among Amazon workers regarding productivity quotas.

The Warehouse Quotas law, which took effect in 2022, mandates that employers disclose productivity quotas to employees and government agencies, as well as any disciplinary actions that may be taken against workers who fail to meet them. Additionally, the law prohibits employers from requiring warehouse employees to meet unreasonable quotas that interfere with their ability to take state-mandated meal and rest breaks or use the bathroom.

The Labor Commissioner's office stated on Tuesday that Amazon "failed to provide written notice of quotas." However, the company contended that it does not require quotas because it employs a "peer-to-peer evaluation system," officials added.

Lilia Garcia-Brower, Labor Commissioner, stated that the peer-to-peer system used by Amazon in two warehouses is the type of system that the Warehouse Quotas law was designed to prevent.

Amazon's warehouse and delivery employees have been frequently scrutinized for how they are treated, with regulators and critics specifically focusing on the pace of work and arguing that the speed requirements put workers at greater risk of injury.

In 2022, Amazon was fined by Washington safety regulators for "willfully" violating workplace safety laws by forcing employees to work at a fast pace, putting them at risk of musculoskeletal disorders. The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also cited Amazon for numerous safety violations. Amazon has stated that it will appeal all the citations.

Last month, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced a federal bill, and states such as New York, Washington, and Minnesota have enacted similar regulations.

Amazon, the second-largest private employer in the U.S., has stated that it does not use fixed quotas. Instead, the company uses "performance expectations" that take into account various indicators, such as how well certain teams at a site are performing. Additionally, it has been disputed that employees do not receive enough breaks.

Amazon has improved its injury rates and announced plans to invest over $750 million in safety initiatives, the company said in March.

An Amazon spokesperson, Maureen Lynch Vogel, stated that the company disagrees with the accusations and has filed an appeal.

"We don't have fixed quotas at Amazon," she wrote in an email. "Individual performance is evaluated over a long period of time, taking into account the entire site's team performance. Employees can review their performance whenever they want and can always talk to a manager if they need help finding information."

Regulators and the DOJ are scrutinizing Amazon's worker safety hazards.