Denise J. Jenkins

I started working for Amazon in January of 2022 as a stower. This job required me to lift heavy objects repeatedly and constantly walk up and down a ladder throughout my 10-hour shift. All of this had to be completed at a very fast pace, and I had to walk four flights of stairs just to get to my work station.

Over time, I began to feel the wear and tear on my body. Within a couple of months, I started having back pain. I informed both my manager and my process assistant about the pain I was experiencing. I was finally sent to Amazon’s in-house AmCare clinic where I was only given pain relief medication and then sent back to work. Eventually, my condition worsened so much that it became difficult to stand.

I was sent to AmCare again to be evaluated for workers’ compensation. I wanted to get the physical therapy that my body needed to recover. Instead, I was told that filing a workers’ compensation claim would prevent me from being able to transfer to another position, so I withdrew the claim even though I was still in pain.

I eventually decided to apply again for workers’ compensation because the pain was too severe to ignore but my claim was denied. I was told I would receive an accommodation transferring me from stow and into another department that would better fit my needs. Unfortunately, I was never transferred. Instead, management just sent me back to my original work station at stow, a position that I was restricted from doing and where my weight restrictions were not respected.

Three months later, I informed my PA that I could no longer perform the work without being accommodated. When HR agreed, I asked my supervisor why I wasn’t accommodated, my supervisor claimed that they didn’t know I needed them. They offered me a position to sit at a computer for 8 to 10 hours, which would have further inflamed my back pain. And the doctor at [Amazon health provider contractor] Concentra only gave me Motrin. After a while, I had taken so much Motrin for the pain that my personal doctor told me to stop taking the medicine because it was elevating my blood pressure.

Overall, I felt bullied by the onsite medical staff every time I needed care for my pain. One onsite medical staff member once said to me: “Do you just not want to work here?” It felt cruel to hear that there was no empathy for what I had been going through. I felt like they were secretly hoping that I would just cave in under the pressure and quit.

Due to the injuries I experienced at Amazon, I had to go to so many doctor’s appointments that I began to lose income and use up my unpaid time. I was terminated in December 2024. I was just one month from reaching the two-year employment mark that I needed to establish work history to purchase a home.

Working for Amazon has broken my body. I’m still in physical therapy but continue to suffer from sciatica nerve pain because of my back injury. Even just putting on my socks has caused my back to go out. I feel that if I had the appropriate therapy right away, I would have been able to recover and be back at work. This injury leaves me wondering how I will ever have my life back and continue to pursue my passion of being a chef. I’m really not sure what’s next for me.