Amazon employees say HR threatened discipline after Seattle testimony

In short: Three Amazon employees say the company investigated them after they supported Seattle limits on new data centers, and warned they could be fired.

What happened

Three Amazon software engineers, Patrick Schloesser, Darius Irani, and Liesl Wigand, testified earlier this month at Seattle City Council hearings about data centers. A data center is a large building full of computers that run online services, sort of like a warehouse for the internet.

The engineers supported regulation and cited a Seattle law that bars employers from discriminating against workers for political speech. Seattle later passed a one-year moratorium, meaning a temporary pause, on new large-scale data centers while the city studies impacts like electricity use, water use, noise, and effects on jobs and infrastructure.

The employees say that on June 10, about a week after the hearing and a day after the moratorium vote, they were called into unexpected meetings with Amazon Employee Relations and HR. They say HR told them the company was investigating them and that discipline could include termination. The employees argue they spoke as individuals and members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, not as official company spokespeople.

On Thursday, the three filed a legal complaint asking the Seattle Office for Civil Rights to investigate. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the report.

Why it matters

This dispute sits at the intersection of local politics and big tech infrastructure. Data centers can bring construction and some jobs, but they can also raise concerns about power use and local costs. The case also highlights a broader question for many workers, which is whether speaking at a public hearing about local issues can put their jobs at risk, even in a city that says political speech is protected.

Source: The Verge AI