France Fines Amazon $35 Million For Intrusive Monitoring Of Workers

France’s privacy watchdog said that it has slapped Amazon’s French warehouse business with a €32 million fine ($35 million) for using an “excessively intrusive system” to monitor worker performance and activity, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

CNIL said the system allowed managers at Amazon France Logistique to track employees so closely that it resulted in many breaches of the European Union’s stringent privacy rules. I Photo: Amazon.fr Facebook

The French Data Protection Authority, also known by its acronym CNIL, said the system allowed managers at Amazon France Logistique to track employees so closely that it resulted in many breaches of the European Union’s stringent privacy rules, called the General Data Protection Regulation.

“We strongly disagree with the CNIL’s conclusions, which are factually incorrect, and we reserve the right to file an appeal,” Amazon said.

“Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations.”

The watchdog’s investigation focused on Amazon employees’ use of handheld barcode scanners to track packages at various points as they move through the warehouse, such as putting them in crates or packing them for delivery.

Seattle-based Amazon uses the system to manage its business and meet performance targets, but the regulator said it’s different from traditional methods for monitoring worker activity and puts them under “close surveillance” and “continuous pressure.”

The watchdog said the scanner, known as a “stow machine gun,” allows Amazon to monitor employees to the “nearest second” because they signal an error if items are scanned too quickly — in less than 1.25 seconds.

The system is used to measure employee productivity as well as “periods of inactivity,” but under EU privacy rules, “it was illegal to set up a system measuring work interruptions with such accuracy, potentially requiring employees to justify every break or interruption,” the watchdog said.

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