France Imposes $35 Million Fine On Amazon Over Employee Surveillance (Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash)France’s privacy watchdog has recently imposed a $35 million fine on Amazon. The company is facing a hefty fine for setting up an “excessively intrusive system” for monitoring employee activity and performance. However, Amazon responded to this and said that the conclusions of the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) are “factually incorrect.”
In a statement released on January 23, CNIL stated that Amazon France Logistique was also fined for video surveillance without information or sufficient security. Amazon France Logistique manages the e-commerce giant’s large warehouses in France. CNIL noted that the system for monitoring employee activity and performance was excessive. The French authority said that it was illegal to set up a system measuring work interruptions with such accuracy, “potentially requiring employees to justify every break or interruption.”
CNIL also ruled that the system for measuring the speed at which items were scanned was “excessive.” The authority clarified that the scanner system put in place to manage the business is justifiable. However, the retention of all this data and the resulting statistical indicators were disproportionate. “As a result, the restricted committee – the CNIL body responsible for issuing sanctions – has imposed a fine of €32 million ($35 million) on AMAZON FRANCE LOGISTIQUE,” said the French authority in its statement.
CNIL stated that they have carried out several investigations on this matter and have also received several complaints from employees. The French authority said that the scanner, known as a “stow machine gun,” permits the company to monitor employees to the “nearest second.”
On the other hand, Amazon mentioned in its statement that the use of warehouse management systems is standard industry practice and is necessary to ensure safe and efficient operations. The e-commerce giant also stated that warehouse management systems ensure inventory tracking and package processing on time and in accordance with customer expectations.