France's data protection agency said on Tuesday, January 23, it had fined Amazon's French warehouse management unit €32 million ($34.9 million) for an "excessively intrusive" surveillance system to monitor staff performance.
Amazon France Logistique monitored the performance of employees through data from scanners used by the staff to process packages, according to the agency, known by its initials CNIL.
Scanners recorded moments of inactivity exceeding 10 minutes or the handling of packages and parcels "right up to the second," the CNIL said in a statement. The other surveillance methods deemed unacceptable by CNIL were the "stow machine gun" which noted if an article was scanned "too fast" or in less than 1.25 seconds.
It said workers were under constant pressure and had to regularly justify absences. Even the time between the employees' entry into the warehouse and the start of work was monitored. It said they were not adequately informed about the surveillance and the data was kept for 31 days.
The fine was equivalent to about three percent of the turnover of Amazon France Logistique. "We strongly disagree with the CNIL's conclusions, which are factually incorrect, and we reserve the right to appeal," Amazon reacted in a statement, arguing that "the use of warehouse management systems is standard industry practice: They are necessary to guarantee the safety, quality and efficiency of operations, and to ensure that inventory is tracked and packages are processed on time and in line with customer expectations." The group has two months in which to lodge an appeal with France's highest administrative court.
Several thousand employees were affected by this system, CNIL said. The regulator opened a probe in 2019 following media articles and complaints by workers.