Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)
On Wednesday, a US appeals court ordered Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) to confront a planned statewide class action in which plaintiffs accuse the corporation of improperly monitoring private Facebook (NASDAQ:META) groups where delivery workers discussed working conditions. Despite it, Amazon’s stock surged.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that Drickey Jackson’s 2020 lawsuit will not be barred because he signed an agreement mandating him to submit work-related complaints to arbitration rather than court.
As a result of the verdict, Jackson will not have to pursue his claims in individual arbitration but rather as a class representative for at least 800 Amazon drivers.
According to Jackson’s claim, Amazon illegally wiretapped its drivers by forming a “social listening team” to spy on and collect conversations in closed Facebook groups using software designed to do just that.
Neither Amazon nor Jackson’s attorneys responded right away to calls for comment. To clarify, Amazon says it did nothing illegal.
In court documents, Jackson referred to a document that purportedly showed a list of 43 secret Facebook groups that drivers controlled in various locations.
He claims Amazon employed high-tech surveillance techniques to keep tabs on the organizations and learn details about potential strikes, demonstrations, union organizing drives, wages, and whether or whether academics investigating Amazon’s employees had contracted drivers.
Amazon has pointed to the agreement Jackson signed as evidence that the lawsuit must go to arbitration. The terms of this agreement include “any dispute or claim… arising out of or relating in any way to… your participation in the program, or to your performance of services.”
On Wednesday, however, the 9th Circuit ruled that Jackson’s performance of services and any element of his contract with Amazon were unrelated to drivers’ usage of secret Facebook groups and claimed privacy breaches by Amazon.
This verdict upheld a finding by a federal California court in 2021.
Circuit Judge Susan Graber said in a dissenting opinion that the matter should be heard in arbitration since Jackson’s claims would not exist without his employment connection with Amazon.
Featured Image: Unsplash @ ghostdasquarian
