Amazon employees say they were interrogated over data center comments
Amazon employees who publicly supported data center regulations before the Seattle City Council claim they were interrogated by Amazon after the council enacted a one-year data center moratorium. The employees, represented by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, state they were made to feel they had committed a crime and are now under investigation, prompting a complaint to the Seattle Office of Civil Rights.
Three Amazon employees, Darius Irani, Patrick Schloesser, and Liesl Wigand, reportedly faced intimidation from Amazon's human resources department after testifying in favor of data center regulations before the Seattle City Council on June 3. During their public comments, the employees, speaking about concerns related to data center and artificial intelligence development, highlighted Seattle's fair employment practices ordinance, which protects employees from employer retaliation.
Following the city council's unanimous vote on June 9 to implement a one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers, the employees received invitations to a meeting regarding a "confidential concern." Irani described his meeting as a "private interrogation," where he was repeatedly questioned to illicit an admission of wrongdoing. All three employees were informed they were under investigation, a process that could potentially lead to their termination.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an employee advocacy group, has accused Amazon of intimidating its workers and subsequently filed a complaint with the Seattle Office of Civil Rights. Eliza Pan, a spokesperson for the group, asserted that the employees' actions were a "legally protected right" and condemned Amazon's alleged "illegal attempts to silence them." Amazon has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding these allegations.