Dear Ms. Cooper and Amazon Board of Directors,

We write to you as organizations committed to fairness, dignity, and the protection of working people. Amazon’s workplace policies affect the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of employees. Today, you have an opportunity to prevent further harm and ensure that pregnant workers are treated with the fairness, dignity, and protections they need to stay safe on the job.

Hundreds of Amazon workers across the country have shared stories with Warehouse Life showing how the current system consistently fails to protect pregnant workers. Workers describe repeated failures to receive accommodations—with devastating consequences for their health and pregnancies, including serious injury and miscarriages, and severe economic hardship. 

The following excerpts are just a few of the hundreds of Amazon workers whose health and pregnancies have been put at risk:

• "I lost my twin babies due to lifting heavy items as a stower at Amazon. I reported my high-risk pregnancy early and asked my managers for accommodations numerous times, but they brushed it off and said I had to do my regular shift. One day, I had such bad cramps at work that I had to go home. At home, I realized I was losing one of my babies. I had to be out of work for a month because of a surgery I needed to remove my babies fully. I lost my apartment because Amazon refused to pay me during that time. I don't understand why Amazon treated me this way instead of allowing me to have lighter-duty work. As a young, first-time mom, my life won’t ever be the same." - Ohio Amazon story

• “I wasn't allowed to take bathroom breaks, and when I did, they would count every minute I took in the bathroom…I ended up having a miscarriage at work and told my manager I needed to go to the hospital, and her response was, ‘Can’t you wait for your shift to be over?’”- Louisiana Amazon story

• “When I told Amazon I was expecting, they delayed my accommodations and wrote me up for sitting down and taking breaks—even after I fainted and was sent to the ER. After that, I was forced onto unpaid leave, then transferred far away, and my hours were cut in half…As a result, we lost our home and had to live in our car. The stress caused me to go into early labor. Because Amazon put me on unpaid leave and cut my hours, they said I no longer qualified for maternity leave or FMLA, benefits I had been counting on.” - California Amazon story

No one should be pushed out of the workplace or put in harm’s way for being pregnant. That is why workers at Warehouse Life have developed a draft pregnancy accommodation policy grounded in their lived experience. 

We urge Amazon to: 

1. Adopt and publish the pregnancy accommodation policy proposed by Warehouse Life’s Pregnancy Justice Committee to ensure timely, fair, and consistent protections for pregnant workers across Amazon facilities.

2. Meet with the workers who have developed this policy. Listening to the people who know your warehouses best is the surest way to create a policy that works.

The majority of Americans believe no one should lose their job or be placed at risk because of pregnancy. By acting now, Amazon can demonstrate that its stated values are more than words and that the health and safety of pregnant workers is a true priority.

As the Chair of Amazon’s Leadership Development Compensation Committee, which oversees warehouse working conditions, you know the decisions you make shape not only Amazon’s reputation but also your own legacy. Hundreds of workers have already spoken. We urge you to listen—and act.

Sincerely,