Amazon manager law suit over wrongful termination

A Black delivery service manager is suing Amazon Services LLC, alleging he was wrongfully fired from his job at the Palmdale warehouse in 2023 after raising multiple job safety concerns, including faulty truck air conditioning and driver fatigue from long delivery shifts.
Johnathon Ervin’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations also include harassment, discrimination, retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Ervin seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit was brought on Oct. 21.
In June 2021, Ervin spoke out about non-working truck air conditioners to one of his managers and emphasized the health risks to drivers because interior temperatures reached up to 140 degrees, according to the suit, which further alleges that the manager and her peers did nothing while emphasizing a priority on delivery quotas being met.
Many drivers had to deliver up to 420 packages in 10-hour shifts across multiple cities, including Palmdale, Lancaster, Agua Dulce and Rosamond, the suit states.
“The relentless demands caused drivers to speed, disregard stop signs and traffic signals and forego breaks, all in an effort to meet the company’s unrealistic delivery quotas,” the suit alleges. “These dangerous practices not only jeopardized the health and safety of the drivers, but also posed a severe risk to the general public.”
Poor truck maintenance, including lack of regular oil changes and tire air pressure checks, made them more likely to have mechanical failures and be involved in accidents, but once again management took no action on that issue or the plaintiff’s concerns about drivers navigating roads in bad weather, the suit alleges.
Management also failed to address Ervin’s claim that he was a victim of racial discrimination by a manager who falsely accused him of being aggressive and cornering her, the suit states.
Ervin was notified in April 2023 by email that he was being fired and he was told it was due to some of the delivery vehicles not being “up to standard,” even though the trucks belong to the company, according to the suit, which further alleges the plaintiff’s termination was “suspiciously aligned” within the time frame of Ervin’s complaints about discriminatory practices and legal violations.
Ervin has suffered lost wages and career damage, as well as emotional distress, due to losing his job, the suit states.