Amazon Fined in France Over Employee Surveillance Concerns -- Update

By Mauro Orru

France's privacy watchdog fined Amazon.com's local warehouse management business, saying the company had put in place an "excessively intrusive" system to keep track of staff performance.

The country's data-protection regulator, the CNIL, announced Tuesday that it had fined Amazon France Logistique 32 million euros ($34.8 million) in late December, saying the business was collecting data from scanners used to process packages to gauge employee productivity and downtime.

The CNIL said the scanners kept track of periods of inactivity exceeding 10 minutes and when a package is scanned "too rapidly," or in less than 1.25 seconds from the previous item, calling such a system excessive as it could pressure staff to justify each break or interruption.

The watchdog added that Amazon hadn't properly informed employees and visitors of video surveillance, in breach of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, the EU's strict data-privacy and security law.

Amazon said it strongly disagrees with the CNIL and that it reserves the right to appeal, calling the conclusions "factually incorrect." The online retail giant said use of warehouse management systems is a common industry practice to guarantee safety, efficiency and ensure that packages are processed in a timely fashion.

The company said it is confident that its systems comply with European and French regulations and that it had engaged constructively with the CNIL to address its concerns. However, Amazon said it had decided to deactivate the functionality that detects when a package is processed too quickly, and extend the threshold for inactivity warnings to 30 minutes from 10 minutes.

The CNIL said it made the decision to fine the company after conducting inspections following press reports about certain practices at Amazon's warehouses. The watchdog also said it had received several complaints from employees.

Write to Mauro Orru at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2024 07:18 ET (12:18 GMT)

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