Woman says Amazon.com fired her because she got ‘long COVID’ – lawsuit

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Jonathan Stempelp

pNEW YORK Reuters – A former Amazon.com Inc employee sued the online retailer on Monday, saying it wrongly fired her and demanded she repay wages after she contracted “long COVID.” pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pBrittany Hope, 29, a former brand manager for Amazons fashion line The Drop in Manhattan, is seeking damages for alleged violations of federal, state and New York City disability laws.p

pThe Brooklyn resident said she was hospitalized after being diagnosed with the flu on Feb. 3, 2020, four months after being hired, and a few weeks before the coronavirus started taking hold in the United States.p

pHope said she “later realized” she had been “seriously ill with COVID and long COVID.”p

pThe complaint filed in Manhattan federal court does not say whether Hope was diagnosed with COVID19. It said Hope also complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.p

pAmazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.p

pHope said that after the pandemic took hold and she began working 17hour days, she began having suicidal thoughts and her physical health deteriorated.p

pShe said her May 12, 2020 request for medical leave caused Amazon to cut off access to her work email and the companys disability and leave portal.p

pShe said Amazon fired her two months later for “job abandonment” and billed her 12,273 for alleged overpayment of wages.p

p“Hope could not navigate the companys leave process because of her severe long COVID symptoms,” the complaint said.p

pHer failure to receive reasonable accommodations “is familiar to many Americans [and] similar to that of other Amazon employees who have found it difficult to balance the challenges to their own wellbeing against the demands of their jobs,” Hopes lawyer Alex Berke said in a statement.p

pAmazon, the secondlargest U.S. private employer, has long been criticized by labor advocates over how it treats workers, who labor unions are trying to organize at some facilities.p

pThe Seattlebased company says it offers great benefits and pay, and sets fair goals for its employees.p

pThe case is Hope v Amazon.com Services LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 2203537.p

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pp Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York editing by Richard Pullinp

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