four conductors of amazon have filed a lawsuit against the company for being trapped in a warehouse that collapsed due to the tornado that affected much of the southern and midwestern United States on December 10, as they have confirmed attorneys Ben Crump and Bob Hilliard. The workers claim that Amazon did not make any changes to the schedule to ensure the safety of its employeesdespite the fact that they received warnings of the arrival of the tornado “up to 36 hours before”.
The collapse of the warehouse, located in the city of Edwardsville, Illinois, left hundreds of people trapped and caused six deaths. Also dozens of wounded. Jamarco Hickman, Evan Jensen, Jada Williams and Deontae Yancey, who have filed the lawsuit with the help of attorneys Ben Crump and Bob Hilliard, were at the facility earlier that day. In the draft of the complaint to which you have had access Insiderthe four workers detail how Amazon acted negligently in the face of the tornado alert and the concern of its employees.
Evan Jensen and Jada Williams allege that they asked their superiors to leave the facilities before the arrival of the tornado, but these they threatened to fire them both if they returned home. Deontae Yancey and Jamarco Hickman say they were instructed to take shelter in the warehouse bathrooms when managers received additional alerts about the tornado’s arrival. Yancey also tried to go home, but stresses that he was forced to stay. Minutes after the orders of those responsible, the tornado hit the facilities, which immediately collapsed.
Amazon received alerts about the arrival of a tornado, but asked its employees not to leave the facilities
Also named in the lawsuit is Deon January, who represents DeAndre Morrow, an employee who died in the warehouse collapse after being forced to stay in the warehouse during the tornado, even though his overtime shift had ended and despite that heThe company received prior notice of the storm.
The lawsuit highlights several points where Amazon failed to ensure the safety of its employees and that could have prevented the deaths of workers like Morrow. Among them, the “failure to evacuate everyone present at the subject delivery station when Amazon knew or should have known that keeping people working at the center, including DeAndre Morrow, placed them in imminent danger and when Amazon knew or should have known that the area was at risk from a tornado.”
It is not the first time that a lawsuit related to this event has arisen. According to Reutersthe family of Austin McEwen, a 26-year-old worker who died after the collapse, also denounced Amazon for not acting cautiously even after receiving notices that conditions were “very unsafe.”