Under new laws in Minnesota and New York, warehouse employers like Amazon must take certain steps to reduce “musculoskeletal” injuries – injuries to your muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, or spinal discs. These injuries can be caused by a single accident at work but are often built up over time through repetitive motion.

If you are an Amazon warehouse worker, these laws impose the following requirements on Amazon:

• Amazon must create and implement facility-wide plans to reduce musculoskeletal injuries at work.
• Amazon must evaluate its plans every year.
• Amazon workers have a right to be involved in developing and evaluating the company’s injury-reduction plan without retaliation.
• Amazon workers have the right to see the written evaluation of the facility’s injury-reduction plan without retaliation.
• In Minnesota, a worker representative also has the right to check Amazon’s records of musculoskeletal injuries at the facility.
• In New York, the person handling the evaluation must be an expert on workplace safety, like a certified ergonomist or other safety professional.
• In New York, if Amazon runs a clinic for workers at your facility, you also have a right to prompt, on-site medical care from providers who are supervised by appropriate medical professionals. The conditions at these clinics must also be part of Amazon’s injury-reduction plan and annual evaluations for your facility.

Minnesota

• MNOSHA Compliance: Ergonomics FAQs from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry

New York

• WWIRA from the New York Department of Labor
• WWIRA Know Your Rights from ALIGN