California Enacts Anti-Quota Warehouse Laws

[thebobmaster]

A New Law In California Aims To Protect Workers At Retail Warehouses Like Amazon's

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 701 on Wednesday. It aims to address the impact of speed quotas on warehouse worker injuries and health.

www.npr.org

Newsom signs law making California 1st state to set quota limits for retailers like Amazon

California on Wednesday became the first state to bar mega-retailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks under a new law signed by Gov. Gav…

ktla.com

Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law today AB 701, which takes effect on January 1st. Part of this new legislation is requiring warehouses to have clear production quotas, and makes it illegal to fire or retaliate against workers for failing to meet unsafe quotas. In addition, the state Labor Commission is now given authority to cite companies in violation, and allowed access to workers' compensation data to find facilities with high injury rates and determine if those rates are due to unsafe quotas.

In addition to safety concerns, this law also makes it illegal for workers to be fired for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and breaks. Under this law, warehouses will have 30 days to disclose quotas to their workers. If the workers feel the quotas lead to unsafe conditions, they can ask for 90 days' worth of documentation showing how their work speed is meeting or failing the quota. Any discipline within that 90 days, as well as any discipline within 90 days of a complaint, are considered retaliation.



This is all good to me. I hope more states follow suit. People may complain about shipping times getting longer, as has already begun happening, but worker safety is the most important thing, and if these companies aren't going to do it willingly, I'm glad to see the law stepping in to make them do it. I just hope that there will be more firm standards than just "unsafe", like an actual number.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

About time. 2 day shipping isn't worth grinding people into paste

 

[Xprimentyl]

This is a good thing. Amazon has been the gold standard for supply chain operations for YEARS, many companies trying to mimic them, even USING them (as in their supply chain) to match their success, and it always fails because the dinosaurs can't meet modern expectations and maintain their existing infrastructure otherwise. Imagine putting your grandmother who doesn't want her driver's license taken away trying to prove she can still drive behind the wheel of a NASCAR car...

The company I work for uses a "step compensation" system (or at least they did; not sure anymore, because I haven't worked in the field for over a decade now.) Basically we had tiered quotas: Step 1s received the minimal compensation while Step 6s received the maximum compensation for a given position, all based on performance: if you can chuck 600 cases an hour, you're a step 6; if you can only chuck 300 cases and hour, you're a Step 3; easy-peasy. This incentivizes employees to do THEIR best without stressing about a singular, bare minimum expected of everyone performing the same task. Truest form of pay-for-performance I've seen in my years in the retail industry.

Only problem was it was dynamic. A Step 6 might fall short of his/her numbers one week, and the challenge then was for them to get back to Step 6 production lest they be reduced to the step befitting their current output. As a supervisor, I caught HELL any time a Step 6 lost his/her status, and they couldn't be reasoned with. Like, you're not fired or even placed on a performance improvement plan threatening your job; we're paying for what you produce, just like you agreed to the day you were hired; what do you want me to do about it?? Then came the sob stories: my back hurts, family drama, I'm on fire, etc. I get that many of those issues might very well be true, but the second you make exceptions for a singular person, that becomes the standard for everyone, and suddenly you've got 95% of your workforce making maximum wage for less than maximum performance. It was really frustrating, but worked in theory. Made me wish I'd have had something like that when I was an hourly employee. Nothing like busting your ass the same amount of hours as the guy you see talking every five minutes only to get the same paycheck.

 

[Gergar12]

Amazon's Jeff Bezos is a soulless demon. Fuck Amazon, for some reason they keep wanting to hire me despite the fact that I despise both the corporate, and supply chain side of Amazon.

 

[Samtemdo8]

Amazon's gonna unleash their laywer/lobbyist groups to reverse this.

 

[BrawlMan]

Amazon's gonna unleash their laywer/lobbyist groups to reverse this.

And they're going to get a big ass kicking. Sucks to be them.

 

[Samtemdo8]

And they're going to get a big ass kicking. Sucks to be them.

Amazon is on the losing side on this?

 

[BrawlMan]

Amazon is on the losing side on this?

They'll lose something. Any type of loss is a win in my book.

 

[Trunkage]

Amazon is on the losing side on this?

Well, I would say that I predict that Amazon will somehow not be affected by this

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Good in theory but how the fuck are you gonna regulate this. Say doing 10 whatevers an hour is safe, what is stopping the company from making their standard quota 20 whatevers per hour and it's shit is easy to not have anyone go over that quota when they expect say 15 whatevers an hour? How is the government gonna know the standard quota is unsafe? I have a friend that works at Ford and everyone there knows it's very unsafe but the money is great. OSHA just looks the other way.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

About time. 2 day shipping isn't worth grinding people into paste

Agreed, especially not given the vast profits Amazon makes each year which means they could hire more people and have more realistic quotas rather tan what is it they're getting to now 150% turn over rates at some places?