23 January 2024 , 16:23
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Amazon has been fined a massive 32 million euros (£27 million) in France for what the country's data watchdog claimed was an "excessive" level of surveillance on its warehouse workers.
The fine was handed down to Amazon France Logistique, which manage's the online retail giant's warehouses, all over the data recorded by handheld scanners used by their staff. France's data watchdog, the CNIL, found that the system being used was so detailed it even recorded interruptions in activity, leading to employees having to explain every break or pause they took.
This level of monitoring was deemed illegal. The CNIL also expressed concerns about Amazon storing the collected data on its workers for up to 31 days.
While the watchdog accepted that Amazon needed some form of monitoring given the scale of its operations and performance targets, it stated that retaining this amount of data and creating related statistical indicators was considered "disproportionate". Furthermore, the CNIL indicated it had identified several breaches of GDPR during its investigation.
The probe was launched following complaints from disgruntled employees and media articles discussing the use of the intrusive surveillance system. Reacting to the decision, Amazon claimed the investigation was conducted without a single site visit by the case handler.
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A spokesperson stated: "We strongly disagree with the CNIL's conclusions, which are factually incorrect and we reserve the right to file an appeal. Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations."
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