Amazon doesn’t pay workers for every hour they work or for lunch break
To make sure low-wage warehouse workers don’t steal any merchandise, Amazon makes them pass through security checkpoints. Here’s what one Nevada worker experienced:
Whenever he clocked out after his 12-hour shift at an Amazon warehouse, Jesse Busk had one more critical task to perform before he could hop into his car and head home to sleep: Pass through the sprawling warehouse security checkpoint.The purpose of the checkpoint was to prevent workers like Busk from pilfering electronics or other pricey goods from the Amazon stock. The process deeply annoyed Busk, but not because of any indignity he may have felt in being checked for contraband. What bothered him was the time it required after an exhausting day — up to 25 minutes, all of it unpaid.
Amazon has declined to comment on worker lawsuits over the lost pay.
Again, from the Nevada warehouse:
According to the lawsuit, the facilities they worked at were each the size of seven football fields. On an unpaid lunch break, Busk said he might spend half the time just trying to get to and from the area where workers eat.