Amazon Warehouse Workers Want to Be Paid for Waiting in Line

Imagine your employer wants to pay you only for the time you spend coding. Then, you have to attend a status meeting every day, where everybody reports their progress. You can report your progress in a couple of minutes, but have to wait for everybody else in the room does so as well, and the room is a big one.

Now, your employer claims that since you are not coding there (no laptops allowed in, sorry), you will not receive compensation, because you are paid to code, not to attend meetings. When you claim that it is part of your position duties to attend the meeting, the boss subtly changes the subject and says that it is normal in every industry for people to have to provide status reports when requested by their superiors, and that you should not demand to be paid extra money for that.

Then you sue... and businessweek.com writes an article with precisely the title line that makes you look the most like an entitled asshole.

Now you know what it feels like to be a warehose worker at Amazon.

I'll bet the average wait time for the line shrinks dramatically if the court rules in the worker's favor. As it stands now, Integrity/Amazon have no incentive to adequately staff the line with security personnel since the workers being checked are off the clock.

This story reminds me about trying to choose the companies I buy products from more carefully. I'm doing much better this year. My rule of thumb is happy employees are a pretty good sign the company isn't evil. Like costco, or whole foods.

Amazon is tough because I don't actually interact with any employees, but if half the stuff I read online is even partially true, they have a lot of progress to make.

One of their recruiters contacted me a few weeks ago, and a quick search about what it's like to be a web developer there helped me decide not to respond.

I should really find a replacement for amazon prime... not the best feeling knowing I'm supporting the lawyers on imo the wrong side of this article.

Comments from any Amazon employees out there would be especially welcome.