E-commerce giant Amazon has secured relief from the US authorities for the period of quarantine and therefore will be able to continue its activities. Employees at one of the customer return processing centers are feeling more vulnerable amid the pandemic and the rush due to staffing shortages.
Amazon's return policy is very generous, so customers are willing to return purchases during the pandemic, if it's not about personal care products. One of the regional returns processing centers in the US state of Kentucky, as noted , was forced to close for 48 hours for enhanced sanitization after the detection of three cases of coronavirus infection among employees. On condition of anonymity, employees of this center say that initially it was problematic to maintain a safe distance between people, and now Amazon is trying to get out of the situation by reducing the number of staff working in one shift.
In the specified center, since the intensification of sanitary measures, there have been problems with the availability of disinfectants for employees. Here, Amazon processed smartwatches, shoes, and T-shirts returned by customers. Employees expressed concern about the need to maintain the previous deadlines for processing returns in the difficult conditions of the pandemic and quarantine. Other U.S. retailers have either temporarily stopped accepting returns, extending their acceptable turnaround time for customers, or extended their regulatory turnaround times to protect the safety of employees who come into contact with returned items.
Last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos urged Amazon employees to work responsibly, calling it a "life-saving service" to provide essential goods to citizens in lockdown. Until the end of the month, Amazon employees have the right not to go to work if they fear for their health. Hourly pay in this case does not provide for monetary compensation, the employer covers only sick leaves for infected employees.
Source: 3dnews.ru