Amazon Warehouse Injury Lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada

Amazon has faced criticism for the potentially dangerous conditions its workers face around the country. Two common types of Amazon workers in Nevada and throughout the US include warehouse employees and delivery drivers. The warehouse is where Amazon workers unload, store, retrieve, and load all the products customers buy online.

Delivery drivers operate trucks that obtain goods from a fulfillment center and deliver them to homes, businesses, and other fulfillment centers. Amazon generally uses its own employees to make deliveries between fulfillment centers and uses a flex program to hire local driving companies for home and other local deliveries.

Amazon has a fulfillment center at 4550 Nexus Way in North Las Vegas. It is in the process of closing its current fulfillment center in Reno, but It has plans for a replacement in South Reno. Amazon warehouse jobs include retrieving items from the loading dock, placing inventory into containers, replenishing stock, inventory control, cleaning, working with technology, and many other positions. Warehouse work may involve the use of forklifts and other equipment.

We’ve written about how warehouse workers and Amazon delivery employees can file workers’ compensation claims before. Employees may also be able to file product liability claims against manufacturers if defective tools or equipment cause harm, as well as personal injury claims against other drivers and third parties who cause an accident while an Amazon employee is performing their job.

What are the different types of workplace injuries Amazone employees suffer?

Repetitive stress injuries are very common warehouse injuries due to the pressure from Amazon to meet high workplace quotas. Repetitive stress injuries include:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Bursitis
• Pinched nerves and other types of nerve damage
• Tendinitis
• Tendinitis
• A trigger finger/trigger thumb
• Rotator cuff injuries
• Stress fractures

Other common warehouse injuries include injuries due to overexertion, falls, and being struck by an object. These injuries include:

• Traumatic amputation/loss of an arm or leg
• Broken bones/fractures
• Spinal cord injuries, including paralysis
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Back, neck, and shoulder pain
• Muscle, ligament, tendon, and tissue damage
• Hearing or vision loss
• Scarring and disfigurement
• Lacerations and bruises

The injuries that Amazon truck drivers suffer are similar to those that all truck drivers suffer.

How safe is it to work for Amazon?

According to a May 2, 2024 profile in The Nation, while Amazon says its company is a safe working place and its injury rates are decreasing, an independent review of Amazon’s workplace says otherwise – that Amazon warehouse workers suffer an unusually high share of workplace injuries compared to other warehouse companies. [The review did not examine truck driver safety].

In March 2024, Amazon released its own warehouse injury report claiming that warehouse injuries for 2023 were down – thanks (Amazon claims) to education programs, new technologies, and safety personnel.

Irene Tung, who works for the National Employment Law Project (NELP), sees the report as having limited utility. She says Amazon still has a crisis – and that going from very horrific to somewhat horrific is still a long way from making Amazon a safe workplace.

The findings of NELP’s Amazon safety review

NELP’s report includes input from more than 12 other workers’ rights groups. The response is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) data. The report concludes that Amazon, among warehouse companies with at least 1,000 workers, accounts for 86% of all injuries that require workers to stop working, even though Amazon accounts for only 79% of warehouse employment. In 2023, the injury rate among Amazon workers was more than one and a half times that of TJX (the owner of Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and other big retailers) and almost three times that of Walmart – comparatively sized warehouse companies.

The Nation references an Amazon worker, G. Paul Blundell, who says that Amazon is obsessed with speed. The company often promises same or next-day deliveries. Amazon, according to The Nation, “announced that it set new records for Prime delivery speeds in the first three months of 2024.” According to Mr. Blundell, the speedy deliveries involve hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers who are constantly pressured to meet high quotas by a “surveillance-based system of discipline.” More than half of the injuries that Amazon warehouse workers suffer are repetitive stress injuries.

New legislation, the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA), proposes prohibiting certain by-the-second data analysis of a worker’s performance. The WWPA would allow OSHA to create and enforce ergonomic workplace standards.

NELP states that Amazon’s injury improvement data comes from the same OSHA analysis – but that Amazon’s analysis has flaws in large part because Amazon’s high warehouse employment rate (79%) skews the results in favor of Amazon. NELP concludes that the injury rate for non-Amazon warehouse employees is 3.8 injuries per 100 employees, while Amazon’s injury rate is 71% higher.

Another significant NELP result is that Amazon’s “light duty” rate is twice as much as the national average. Light duty work is work that injured employees do while they are receiving health care. Light duty involves specific job restrictions, such as limits on how much a worker can lift or carry.

Additionally, NELP challenges Amazon’s contention that the company improved its ergonomic improvements for 2023. NELP asserts that most of those improvements were OSHA mandates.

What compensation can I receive for Amazon workplace injuries?

The answer to this question depends on whether you are an employee or an independent contractor. Generally, employers control when and how employees do their jobs. Independent contractors generally use their own trucks and equipment and work according to their own schedules. Employees file a workers’ compensation claim against their employer, while contractors can file a personal injury claim against them. Both employees and contractors can file personal injury claims against third parties.

• Personal injury. Your damages can include your current and future medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and property damage.
• Workers compensation. Your damages include your current and future medical bills, temporary disability benefits (about 2/3 of your wages), and permanent disability benefits. Workers’ compensation does not include pain and suffering.

Claggett & Sykes has the experience and resources to help you whether you have a workers’ compensation or personal injury claim. We’ve obtained more than $1.5 billion dollars for our clients. We’re ready to contest Amazon’s teams of lawyers. Please call us or complete our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We have offices in Las Vegas and Reno for your convenience.