By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc must face a claim that it failed to protect New York City warehouse workers and their families from COVID-19, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday while dismissing the bulk of a 2020 lawsuit.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a federal judge’s ruling that said only the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had the power to review complaints about Amazon’s workplace safety practices.
The court, however, upheld the dismissal of other claims, including that Amazon created a “public nuisance” by failing to stop the spread of COVID-19 and did not properly provide payments for sick leave.
The case involves workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island that earlier this year became the company’s first unionized facility. The outcome of Amazon’s fourth union election this year, at a warehouse near Albany, New York, is expected as early as Tuesday.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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