3 Amazon Employees Say They Are Being Investigated For Talking About Data Centers
Earlier this month, five current Amazon employees publicly urged the Seattle City Council to regulate the data centers. It was an unprecedented act of advocacy by tech workers, and now three of the employees say they are under internal investigation for what they understand to be posing as company spokespeople without prior approval. “It’s a ridiculous claim,” said one of the affected employees, Patrick Schloesser. “It makes no sense at all.”
The three software engineers, who work in different divisions of Amazon and all live in Seattle, believe they have been unfairly targeted for expressing their political beliefs. They filed a joint complaint Thursday with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, according to staff and a file seen by WIRED. They accuse Amazon of illegally trying to intimidate and retaliate against them for expressing their opinion outside of work about the need to control the environmental and social impacts of data centers.
“Seattle is one of the few places in the country that prohibits private employers from discriminating against their employees based on their political beliefs and affiliations,” said Abby Lawlor, an attorney with Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt who advises employees. “Here, we have the legal tools to fight back and ensure that tech workers can be full democratic participants in these important local discussions. We hope the city of Seattle will do its part to ensure that this important Seattle law is implemented.”
Amazon and the Seattle office of civil rights did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Margaret Callahan, a spokeswoman for Amazon, previously told WIRED that the company respects employees’ right to express their opinions and that it strives to be a responsible steward of the communities in which it operates.
Amazon employees have taken to the city’s lectern to advocate for various regulations Seattle is considering imposing on data centers. Amazon has no current or proposed data center in the city, but several other companies have made plans for new projects.
The employees who said they were being investigated – Darius Irani, Liesel Wigand and Schloesser – said they were called separately to meetings with Amazon employees last Wednesday. They were told that the investigation could take one to two weeks and have received no updates so far, except that they were instructed to use the speaker registration form which they felt did not apply to the personal comments they had made. Schloesser recalls being told the investigation could lead to dismissal.
The three employees said Amazon has a pattern of trying to both silence worker action, including at its warehouses, and to evade public criticism of its data centers by using confidentiality agreements and other tactics to shield projects from scrutiny. Affected employees say they have received many messages of support from colleagues and no internal criticism, apart from meetings with HR.
In remarks during public comment at three town meetings this month, the workers identified themselves as members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group of thousands of current and former employees at the tech company that has long advocated for the company to better address its role in contributing to climate change.
The employees did not say they spoke for the company, which as far as they know has not officially commented on the data center rate in question. Two other Amazon employees who spoke at city council meetings later said they had never received notice that they were under investigation.
