Grievance against Amazon

Dear Whomever It May Concern,

I am a person with a qualified disability according to the American Disability Act. There have been many instances in this past year that I have been succumbed to ongoing harassment and discrimination, because of these it has caused a hostile working environment and at times they are unbearable. 

Just as a Reference from Amazon’s Owner’s Manuel

Tier 2 – Threatening, Intimidation, Coercing, or Interfering with Supervisors and or Fellow Associates.

Fighting or Threatening Violence

Gross Misconduct

Unlawful or Unwelcome Harassment

Making False Statements Concerning an Associate

Insubordination

Tier 1:

Failure to carry out work assignment in an efficient, responsible, and accessible manner.

Abusive, or harassing language to a fellow associate.

The employer has a responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations. Employers cannot refuse to discuss the request or fail to provide reasonable accommodations as a punishment for the conduct problem. If reasonable accommodation is needed to assist n employee with a disability in controlling their behavior and thereby preventing another conduct violation, and the employer refuses to provide one that would not cause undue hardship, then the employer has violated the ADA. The only requirement by the ADA is that a conduct rule be job related and consistent with business necessity when it is applied to the employee whose disability cause him or her to violate the rules.

The ADA Requires the Employer to provide Reasonable Accommodation:

Modification to Workplace Environment

Modification to Change in Physical Environment

Reasonable accommodations should also include the effects of social barriers to all workplace inclusion. According to the ADA:

You cannot interfere with anyone who exercised his or her right to enjoy a protected ADA right.

You must find reasonable accommodations that will enable a person to perform the job function successfully.

Your obligation as an employer, manager, supervisors, shift assistant is to engage in the interactive process even if the original accommodation prove that it’s failing. People with disabilities need to be protected because it is The Law According to the ADA. Therefore an employer has the obligation and must use reasonable accommodation to eliminate any barriers before you discipline. Reasonable accommodation must be made to help with performance and to properly address conduct barriers during the employment stage.

Definition of Reasonable Accommodation – Any change in the work environment or the way things are normally done that enables an employer to enjoy employment without barriers. 

Any employee  “ only has to see that they require you to provide them with an adjustment or change at work due to a medical condition.” Otherwise would violate the ADA if there were no reasonable accommodation in place. You cannot give an inaccurate job evaluation that does not reflect the employee’s actual job performance, without making a reasonable accommodation to solve the problem. You may discipline an employee with a disability for violating a code of conduct standard, if the disability does not cause the misconduct. If the disability does not cause the misconduct, you can hold that person to the same conduct standards. An employer must make reasonable accommodations unless it is a burden due to undue hardship.

Disability Awareness

Equally important that if an employer is asked for any reasonable accommodation, that they act accordingly and promptly. Inclusion means that we include people, consider their needs, and treat with courtesy. Ask instead of always offering help, sometimes people with disabilities don’t necessarily need help and it would be considered disrespect and rude if they don’t ask to help. Employees with disabilities have barriers and are perpetuated by attitudes. People make stereotypes around those who have hidden disabilities.

Knowledge

Get to Know People With Disabilities

 Ask Questions, but don’t assume.

Understanding

Use Empathy towards people.

Figure out why people are the way that they are.

Acceptance

Respecting values to the behaviors of others.

Listen with an Open-Mind

Respecting Confidentiality

Supervisors can know limitations to work and working environment. Supervisors are not privilege to know anything about the disability. This is due to the lack of understanding in society and therefore should be handled carefully and with people with the knowledge, training, and proper education in disability awareness.

Communication Styles

Don’t intimidate people who have hidden or mental disabilities. Also suspend opinions and judgments. The employer must be able to help those and include people with disabilities not hinder them to not succeed.

Interactive Process

Employees and employers need to work together to figure out what reasonable accommodations work. Employers must show “ Good Faith” effort. Good Faith Standards:

Readily Meet with Employees.

Discuss Reasonable Accommodations.

Suggest Other Possible Options.

Must describe the problems posed by the workplace barriers. They must make modifications or adjustments that enable the employee to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of employment. Unless doing so would pose an undue hardship on the company.

The interactive process should help identify solutions so employees can fully enjoy and do the essential job functions without any complications and or barriers while they are working without any distractions. If an individual has a known or obvious disability that appears to limit, interfere with, or prevent the individual from performing essential job functions, a reasonable accommodation would be sufficient. 

An employee can ask and explain what other information you need to allow for the reasonable accommodation. Otherwise, asking for more medical information would be against their privacy and confidentiality. Medical documentation is insufficient only if it does not specify the existence of an ADA disability and explain the need for reasonable accommodation. You cannot ask for Documentation When:

Both the disability and need for reasonable accommodation are obvious.

 The individual has already provided you with sufficient information to substantiate that he or she has an ADA disability and needs reasonable accommodation requested.

Conflict Resolution

In conflict resolution you must recognize people’s emotions. Conflict resolution can happen because there are different styles of communication. Word choice, tone of voice, and body language all convey different meanings to different people. Employees should learn to talk respectfully towards others and each other. Employees should use positive language and don’t say any inappropriate things or insulting things.

Values

Everyone has values that make him or her unique. Values are how a person acts, and interact with their environment. 

Bullying In The Workplace

Workplace incivility, social undermining, emotional abuse, abusive supervision, mobbing, workplace harassment, verbal abuse, and psychological abuse. The acts of each affect those of the other and therefore it causes conflict and friction. In order to see conflict, you must see the perpetrator has in the way that they do things. Studies show: a more competitive individual is more likely to be aggressive to show favoritism to a supervisor. Bullying effects can lead to disengagement, loss of motivation, and even health complications. Organizational factors to environment contribute to workplace bullying than individual differences. Incivility incidents that range from a mild slight to general rudeness or disrespect. Nothing is being done to change or address the bullying expose to incivility. Regardless of how bullying is manifested—either verbal or strategic moves to render the target unproductive and unsuccessful—if it is the aggressor’s desire to control the target that motivates the action. Actions:

1 Boss Compounds Problem

2. Boss Who Does Nothing

3. Reacted Negatively to Complaints

Management has the right to stop bullying behavior and must correct the action, or prevent destructive behavior. It is not personality clashes, it is to stop the harassment and bullying and making the work a hostile environment for everyone involved. The characteristics common to all bullies is that they are controlling competitors who exploit their cooperative targets. Most bullies would stop if the rules were changed and bullying was punished accordingly. Employer’s liability stems from control over the creation and maintenance of the work environment roles, responsibilities, behavioral expectations, and the workplace culture’s health or toxicity.

Policy Changes

Inaccurate Perpetrator pattern ad practice over time.

Employment Trust = No Personal Relationships with Subordinates

Progressive Disciplinary Action

Stop Retaliatory Practices

Manager Training in Harassment, Disability Awareness, and Emotional Intelligence. 

Employers must show that they took reasonable actions to stop the harassment 

Invisible Disability – Impairments that are not readily observable. Associated emotional challenges, is that culture and the ADA’s design keeps employees from action’s their rights for reasonable accommodations. You must train supervisors and managers to be aware of the connection between poor job performance and a possible learning disability.  People that are protected are individuals with impairments that are substantially limiting because of the attitudes of others.

Discriminatory Attitudes:

If a learning disability is not obvious, it does not exist. This statement is false and is a stereotype.

 Because of not being obvious, people will claim that thy are disabled in order to defraud a business.

Employers should encourage natural social relationships and condone bad behaviors.

Employers must modify or change the work environment or process by which tasks are completed by reasonable accommodations.

Attitudinal Discrimination can lead to adverse affects to the individuals with learning disabilities and or hidden disabilities. The employee must show that the employer made an adverse employment action because of the unjustified perception of a disability, whether based on myth, fear, or stereotype, an not on a employee’s present abilities.

Someone discriminated against me by writing a false statements and accusation towards me.

Title 1 of the ADA definition of disability, are “ Disabling” as a result of employers misconceptions about individuals performance capabilities or certain workplace accommodations. A Hostile Environment Theory is therefore actionable under Title 1 of the ADA. 

Facts: Courts have considered behavioral factors such as the nature and severity of the alleged conduct and whether it interfered with the work performance of a qualified employee.

Under hostile environment or disability theory, Title 1 would be violated if the employer’s behavior discriminates against a qualified employee because of his or her disability.

There was a recent incident that I would like to report that happened on January 12, 2020.

First – On January 11,2020 it was reported to me by two people that another employee took out his own personal phone and took a picture in front of the Assignment Board. First and foremost, that is beach of privacy and also it wasn’t his own picture and he should not have his phone on the floor. My coworkers are noticing his odd behavior and yet the company is allowing this misconduct ongoing. Why is the company tolerating this odd behavior and there is not terminating him? 

Second – I recently filled a grievance against another employee so anything that he does to me that interferes my working condition can be perceived as retaliatory.  I was asked to Open Boxes in Section J. I opened aisles 1-7 but immediately stopped at 8-10. I stopped at 8 because the reset wasn’t completed. I decided to go to 11 and start working and he was negatively shouting at me for no reason. Again, his behavior towards me is “unwelcomed and is a continuous pattern of behavior.” 

I reported the first situation to a manager on Saturday and no one has gotten a hold of me as far as a resolution.

I reported about second situation to another manager on Sunday’s Shift.

Employee Fairness

Actual Fairness – Involves Facts; does company established criteria based on their best business judgment and followed that criteria in a consistent and objective way. 

Amazon is not Consistent and Transparent 

Perceived Fairness – Focuses on employee perception of their organization’s behavior, decisions, and actions.

Procedural Fairness – Whether the organization has established a procedure to handle a variety of workplace issues and whether the established procedures are consistently followed.

The company follows generally accepted norms of professional conduct.

Distributive Justice – Whether rewards and punishments are distributed in an even-handed way.

Interactional Justice – whether immediate managers and other leaders treat employees respectfully and professionally.

It’s impossible the manager and whomever it may concern, to maintain a healthy inclusive culture… if the corporate message is that rules, or consequences for violating those rules, apply only to certain employees.

For Example:  Not properly disciplining the first and second employees and coworkers looking at the situation and figuring out why the company is tolerating this behavior.

Only enforcing policies among employee deemed replaceable is guaranteed to create a toxic hostile working environment of perceived, and actual, unfairness. It would benefit the company to look at their rules and procedures and to get rid of these toxic employees and hire those with the qualifications who are deemed responsible, respectfully, and can create diversity when dealing with different cultures, beliefs, and values.