Amazon is fined in France for surveillance of its employees
The technology company Amazon was fined by the French government for alleged surveillance of its employees and must pay 32 million euros
This Tuesday, a fine applied to Amazon France Logistique by the local data protection agency was announced due to the monitoring that the technology company has been doing to control the performance of workers in warehouses.
The fine, which was set at 32 million euros ($34.9 million), was imposed by the French agency considering that Amazon’s surveillance system is “excessively intrusive.”
In this sense, the “National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL) considers that the data collected by the subsidiary of the American Internet distribution giant, through the scanners used by its employees in warehouses to process packages, constitutes a system for monitoring excessive activity and performance.”
The amount of the fine is equivalent to 3 % of the French company’s turnover. In this regard, the AFP news agency reports that the maximum fine is 4 %.
Regarding the company’s surveillance system, the CNIL considers unacceptable “the so-called stow machine gun, which records when an item is scanned too quickly, in less than 1.25 seconds, and the idle time, which indicates a period of inactivity of a scanner for more than 10 minutes.
On the other hand, the pressure that employees are under due to any difference in time between the time they “clock in” and scan the first package is questioned.
The CNIL has indicated that the procedures applied by Amazon on French soil are totally intrusive. Amazon has indicated that it reserves the right to appeal the decision on the fine. The appeal should be submitted within a period of two months.
M.Pino
Source: Swissinfo
(Reference image source: Unsplash+, in collaboration with Getty Images)
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