LAWSUIT: Amazon Callously Fired Employee For Seeking Time Off After Both Parents Died
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a0o8fmvd6fgyfva/AABF9XRmy-ZwhHYQrOp4qP17a?dl=0
A former Amazon employee is suing the tech giant after he claims the company summarily fired him for seeking time off when both his parents died, the latest in a string of complaints against the company over wrongful termination and retaliation.
Losing a parent is devastating enough but losing two within a week is emotionally crippling, and Amazon acted with callous disregard for both California law and basic human decency, said plaintiff’s attorney Ron Zambrano.
The lawsuit was filed in Kern County Superior Court; Brock vs Amazon.com Services LLC, A Delaware Corporation, Case No: BCV-23-100776 (Mar. 14, 2023).
“Our client is the latest of many victims of Amazon’s infamously cold-hearted human resources department over the last few years. Mr. Brock lost both parents in six days. Rather than doing the moral thing, let alone their legal obligation under California law, allowing Mr. Brock time off to grieve, Amazon coldly fired him,” Zambrano said. “This is truly despicable and illegal behavior.”
Scott Brock started working in November 2021 at a Bakersfield, California, Amazon fulfillment center as a picker, stocking products, locating items for shipment, and loading delivery vehicles.
On Jan. 21, 2023, Brock’s mother passed away. A day later, according to the lawsuit, Brock requested four days off to cope with the trauma. Less than a week later on Jan. 27, his father tragically died. Brock then made another bereavement application for the next three days off.
At the request of Amazon’s human resources department, Brock provided obituaries for both his parents to prove they had passed away but a day later on Feb. 2, 2023, his bereavement request was suddenly denied.
Brock was then subsequently fired, according to the complaint, in violation of several laws and statutes, including the California Family Rights Act which specifically prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee merely for exercising their rights under the CFRA.
Under California law, Brock was an eligible employee under the requirements of CFRA, as he had more than 12 months of service and at least 1,250 hours with the employer during the previous 12-month period.
According to the lawsuit, Brock has since not only suffered financially but the termination also caused physical sickness and emotional distress.
Brock’s complaint is just the latest against Amazon in recent years over allegations of wrongful termination and retaliation. In 2021, a Santa Ana, California, woman won a more than $300,000 verdict against Amazon over her wrongful termination lawsuit with a judge last year awarding her an additional $2.4 million for attorneys’ fees. In April 2022, a federal judge ordered Amazon to reinstate a warehouse worker and pay back wages after he was “unlawfully” fired from a Staten Island facility for protesting safety conditions during the pandemic.
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About the West Coast Trial Lawyers – Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers (https://westcoasttriallawyers.com) is a top-rated law firm with 100 years of collective experience. Our partners worked for the largest firm in Los Angeles, and now leverage their backgrounds and legal knowledge to stand up to the corporations they once defended. Ron Zambrano is a partner and the Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Trial Lawyers, where he brings more than a decade of experience fighting for employee rights. Since 2008, he’s exclusively represented victims of workplace discrimination and harassment, wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, and wage and hour violations. Ron has settled millions of dollars in claims on behalf of aggrieved employees from various walks of life and backgrounds.
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