Amazon to pay $61.7 million to settle charges it withheld driver tips

[Wicked Blue]

Agence France-Presse via Raw Story
Feb. 2, 2021

Amazon has agreed to pay $61.7 million to settle charges it withheld tips from its independent delivery drivers over two and a half years, US officials said Tuesday.

The US Federal Trade Commission said the agreement settles a complaint that Amazon failed to give the full tip amounts to drivers in its Amazon Flex program.

"Rather than passing along 100 percent of customers' tips to drivers, as it had promised to do, Amazon used the money itself," said Daniel Kaufman, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

"Our action today returns to drivers the tens of millions of dollars in tips that Amazon misappropriated, and requires Amazon to get drivers' permission before changing its treatment of tips in the future."

https://www.rawstory.com/amazon-to-pay-61-7-million-to-settle-charges-it-withheld-driver-tips/

[Midnightwalk]

1. Crime pays

They improperly held employee tips for a couple of years and at the end just have to pay the money back.

They also cut the workers wages because the tips they kept would have boosted their effective wages.

We need much stronger protections for workers and stiff penalties for companies who take advantage of their workers.

They do these things because there is no downside. If they get away with it, they make money. If they don’t get away with it they still get to use the money they misappropriated until they have to pay it back.

Executives got raises, bonuses and promotions for improving the bottom line.

[Wicked Blue]

2. This is how they can afford to build that fancy helix building in Arlington

Stiff the little people, fight unionization.

[PatSeg]

3. Whoa, that is really low

[Midnight Writer]

4. One word. Union.

[moondust]

5. Poor witto Amazon.

Doggone it. If they can't screw the little guys who do all the work then how are they supposed to boost their profits and attract big investors who want bigger yachts?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Why I always tip in cash, directly to the person I want to tip.

I've also heard far too many stories of restaurants withholding servers' tips.