California 1st to set quota limits for retailers like Amazon

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will be the first state to bar mega-retailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks. The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom grew from Amazon’s drive to speed goods to consumers. The measure also prohibits disciplining workers for following health and safety laws and allows employees to sue to suspend unsafe quotas or reverse retaliation. It applies to all warehouse distribution centers, though proponents were driven by Amazon’s dominance. Amazon didn’t comment. But business organizations objected that California is home to thousands of warehouse distribution centers that provide quality jobs to hundreds of thousands of working-class Californians.