Employees allege Amazon threatened discipline after data center testimony

Three Amazon software engineers have asked Seattle civil rights officials to investigate whether the company retaliated against them for backing restrictions on data centers. The complaint tests a city protection for employees who engage in political speech, as Seattle weighs how much new data center growth it wants inside city limits.

Patrick Schloesser, Darius Irani and Liesl Wigand filed the complaint Thursday with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, The Verge reported. The employees allege Amazon engaged in unlawful employment discrimination after they testified at Seattle City Council hearings in favor of data center regulation.

The three engineers were called into unplanned meetings with Amazon Employee Relations on June 10, according to The Verge. That was one week after the hearing and one day after the City Council approved an emergency one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers.

Human resources representatives told each employee that Amazon was investigating them and that discipline could include termination, according to The Verge. Amazon did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

Complaint follows council vote

Seattle’s moratorium pauses new large-scale data center proposals while council members consider possible legislation tied to public benefits and further research. City materials cited by The Verge say officials sought information on effects including land use, public health, water use, employment, utility rates and infrastructure.

The council hearings drew residents who supported new rules for data centers, according to The Verge. Five Amazon employees attended, including Schloesser, Irani and Wigand.

All five are members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group of current and former workers focused on climate issues, The Verge reported. Last year, the group published an open letter signed by more than 1,000 Amazon employees calling on Amazon to run its data centers on 100 percent additional, local renewable energy.

The employees began their City Council testimony by citing a Seattle law that bars employment discrimination based on political speech, according to The Verge. Their complaint now asks the Office for Civil Rights to investigate and take action if it finds Amazon violated the law.

Employees describe HR meetings

Schloesser told The Verge that an HR representative contacted him by Zoom without advance notice shortly before a design review meeting. He said the representative asked where he had been and what he had said at the City Council meeting.

Schloesser said he was told he had violated Amazon’s corporate communications policy, which bars employees from acting as company spokespeople without approval, The Verge reported. He said the workers who testified identified themselves by job role and by membership in Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, rather than as official Amazon representatives.

Irani told The Verge that he received an email from HR on June 9 setting a meeting for the following day about a confidential matter. He said the representative asked about other Amazon workers who attended the council hearings.

Abby Lawlor, counsel for Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and an attorney at Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt, said in a statement reported by The Verge that Seattle is among the few U.S. jurisdictions that protect private-sector workers from discrimination tied to political beliefs and organizational membership.

AECJ spokesperson Eliza Pan said in a statement reported by The Verge that the group views Amazon’s actions as an attempt to intimidate members over their advocacy.

The data center dispute has sharpened in the Seattle area, where Amazon and Microsoft are headquartered. Two months before the moratorium vote, four unidentified companies had proposed five large-scale data centers in Seattle that together could require electricity equal to one-third of the city’s average daily use, The Seattle Times reported.

This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.