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Law360 (December 14, 2020, 8:19 PM EST) -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra hit Amazon.com with a lawsuit in state court Monday, accusing the e-commerce giant of refusing to hand over information about its COVID-19 safety protocols and potential outbreaks at its facilities in the Golden State.
In a 13-page petition that the California Attorney General's Office posted online, Becerra claims that Amazon.com Inc. has refused to comply with investigative subpoenas requesting information on how many of its workers have contracted or died from COVID-19 and what efforts the company is taking to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, like implementing COVID-19 related sick leave policies and cleaning procedures.
"If the attorney general is to meaningfully take steps to try and quell the rampant and lethal wildfire-like spread of [COVID-19] among California workers, he requires more than the limited data produced and broad assurances that Amazon is complying with its own internal policies and procedures," the petition says.
The petition comes nearly six months after Becerra began investigating Amazon's workplace safety practices and whether the company is complying with California labor laws in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
Becerra opened the investigation shortly after California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in March.
In May, Becerra repeatedly asked Amazon for information on workplace conditions in its roughly 150 California facilities, according to the petition.
But the online giant failed to respond, initially claiming that the state attorney general's requests had been "lost internally," and then eventually responding by purportedly ignoring "most" of Becerra's requests for information, the petition says.
As a result, the state issued subpoenas in August with 21-day deadlines, stressing the timeliness of the responses in light of rising infection rates.
Since August, Amazon and Becerra's office met about the information requests, but the petition claims that during the process, the state attorney general's office "learned more from media reports and press releases than from Amazon directly," because Amazon only produced imprecise information about its California facilities.
Becerra eventually narrowed his information requests to only seven Amazon facilities in the state and agreed to extend the deadline, but Becerra claims that the company still failed to hand over the requested information and missed the most recent Dec. 10 deadline.
"The slow drip of information from Amazon is an insufficient response," the petition says. "Absent the requested data, the attorney general is unable to adequately determine if Amazon is complying with applicable California law to protect its workers from COVID-19."
The lawsuit asks the court to order Amazon's counsel to appear in court and explain why the company has refused to comply with the investigative subpoenas and to order the company to provide "full responses."
Becerra said in a statement Monday that Amazon has made billions during the pandemic by relying on the labor of essential workers who "get the job done while putting themselves at risk."
"It's critical to know if these workers are receiving the protections on the job that they are entitled to under the law," the statement says. "Time is of the essence."
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement Monday that the company is "puzzled" by the California Attorney General's "sudden rush to court."
"We've been working cooperatively for months and their claims of noncompliance with their demands don't line up with the facts," the statement says.
The petition comes two months after the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of California's Department of Industrial Relations hit Amazon warehouses in Southern California with fines totaling $1,495 for not effectively training workers on COVID-19 procedures and for not documenting coronavirus training. The company has since appealed the citations.
Becerra, a former member of Congress, was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden Dec. 7 to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The state is represented by Xavier Becerra, Michael L. Newman, Satoshi Yanai, Jennifer C. Bonilla and Minsu D. Longiaru of the California Department of Justice.
Counsel information for Amazon wasn't immediately available Monday.
The case is People of the State of California Ex Rel. Xavier Becerra v. Amazon.com Inc. in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Sacramento. The case number wasn't immediately available Monday.
--Editing by Andrew Cohen.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
