In summary

California’s attorney general has filed a petition to get Amazon to comply with investigative subpoenas into the e-commerce giant’s coronavirus prevention efforts.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra is accusing Amazon of withholding information in California’s ongoing investigation into the company’s coronavirus protocols and COVID-19 cases at distribution facilities across the state.

Becerra today filed a petition in the Sacramento County Superior Court asking the court to order the e-commerce giant to comply with outstanding investigative subpoenas from the California Department of Justice.

“Amazon has made billions during this pandemic relying on the labor of essential workers,” Becerra said in a statement. “Time is of the essence. Amazon has delayed responding adequately to our investigative requests long enough.”

The attorney general’s office says Amazon has “failed to adequately respond” to investigative summons, which were issued Aug. 19 following months of informal communication. Prosecutors sought specific details about Amazon’s coronavirus prevention efforts, including sick leave policies and cleaning procedures, as well as raw data on the number of infections and deaths at their facilities in the state. Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move marks an escalation of the state’s investigations into how Amazon is and isn’t keeping its workers safe, as workers have complained about a lack of social distancing, mask wearing, case notification and sanitation. Meanwhile, soaring demand for online shopping during the pandemic has boosted the company’s sales and profits to record levels.

In October, the state’s workplace safety agency cited two facilities in Southern California for failing to keep workers safe, which Amazon is appealing.

After months of pressure, Amazon released on Oct. 1 data about case rates among employees, broken down by state, which indicated that 1.46% of California employees had tested positive, below the statewide case rate at the time of 1.98%. However, Amazon has not disclosed more recent data and has refused to disclose numbers of cases at specific facilities, leading some workers to try to assemble their own counts based on limited company notifications they receive about new coronavirus cases.

When asked by CalMatters reporters why Amazon wouldn’t tell workers or the public the exact number of cases at a facility in early November, a spokesperson said “site-specific case figures lack a significant amount of context” such as local infection rates, timelines, and how Amazon compares to other companies.

“We utilize a variety of data to closely monitor the safety of our buildings, and there is strong evidence that our employees are not proliferating the virus at work,” the spokesperson said, pointing reporters to a blog post detailing the company’s safety protocols.

This article is part of the California Divide, a collaboration among newsrooms examining income inequality and economic survival in California.

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