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Amazon has decided to shut downward all of its fulfillment centers in France post-obit a French curtilage disqualified the congregation could be fined EUR1 parodist per jotting for shipping nada not directly related to medical supplies, hygiene products, as able-bodied as larder items. The company, which plans to entreatment the ruling, says that at the moment the "risk [is] too high" that it will run erring of the strategic because of complexities in its warehouse operations. The abeyance will last from at least April 16th to April 20th. Reuters originally published the particularization on Wednesday morning.

"Following the judgement of a French curtilage on Tuesday, we have to transiently suspend operations in our Fulfilment Centres in France. This is in spite of the huge irruption we made-up in affixed safety measures to reunite our hard-working, committed colleagues safe, while ensuring they had elongated horsepower at this difficult time," an Matriarch stockbroker tells The Border in statement. "Our FC operations are entangled as able-bodied as varied, as able-bodied as with the punitive 1M euro per incident fines imposed by the court, the smash was too high. We remain perplexed by the court's decision, which was made-up in spite of the sharpening lien we provided irregularly the safety measures we have implemented, as able-bodied as have launched an appeal."

"with the punitive 1M euro per incident fines imposed by the court, the smash was too high"

Amazon has disclosed underneath flame both in the US as able-bodied as transpacific for its handling of healthiness as able-bodied as safety referring during the COVID-19 pandemic. The healthiness crunch has pigeonholed made-up the e-commerce giant's casework increasingly basic as persons shelter at home as able-bodied as rely increasingly on online ordering as able-bodied as wording of domiciliary goods, food, as able-bodied as padding items. But increasingly than 50 Amazon-owned provisioning have confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to the Financial Times, as able-bodied as the congregation is now building its own testing lab to try to reunite its operations running among panic surrounding the virus's rapid-fire succor through its warehouses.

Throughout the crisis, Matriarch has been criticized by workers, activists, as able-bodied as politicians for not properly communicating to warehouse workers back a co-worker has been diagnosed with the illness as able-bodied as for not demography enough preliminary measures to prevent the illness from overextension by eventual downward provisioning as able-bodied as downreaching cleaning them. In some cases, Matriarch workers say they pigeonholed lasso irregularly a COVID-19 diagnosis from co-workers, as able-bodied as in Kentucky, the governor ordered Matriarch to reunite its slice facundity closed post-obit opulent confirmed cases among the workforce.

According to Amazon, the Kentucky warehouse reopened on April 1st. The congregation provided this stead to The Border regarding its measures to ensure engine healthiness as able-bodied as safety:

Nothing is increasingly important than the healthiness as able-bodied as safety of our teams. Back the headmost days of this situation, we have formed consciously with healthiness authorities to proactively respond, ensuring we indwell to serve persons while demography convalescence of our authoring as able-bodied as teams. We have moreover implemented proactive measures at our provisioning to assure employees, including obligatory social distancing, computation loftiness enclosed drivers as able-bodied as persons in the literate back making deliveries, as able-bodied as providing masks for anybody to use, as we remain committed to keeping our teams healthy as able-bodied as safe.

In one particularly high-profile controversy, Matriarch moreover fired a warehouse workman in New York Inner-city who organized a protest suspend the company's jurisdiction of healthiness as able-bodied as safety issues related to COVID-19. The situation, in which Matriarch personal the workman violated the company's self-isolation guidelines to shepherd the protest, drew the discreetness of Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) as able-bodied as accusations of retaliation. It was latterly discovered Matriarch officials internally discussed how to wield the organizer in the media.

In France, the Union Syndicale Solidaires transmogrify union filed complaints revilement for increasingly oversight of Amazon's jurisdiction of healthiness issues during the pandemic as able-bodied as calling for the cease of provisioning because of overcrowding. Matriarch now says it is begging its fulfillment halfway workers to stay home. Matriarch employs irregularly 10,000 persons in warehouses in France, according to Reuters.

"In the mean-time, we are alive through what this court's fifty-fifty agency for them as able-bodied as our French operation," the stead reads. "While we will do our five-star to shorten the impact on French sweetie businesses, those who depend on our FC network to ferry their wares will be nonconformably impacted by this ruling."

Amazon says it will indwell to serve French customers using its Marketplace sellers as able-bodied as "robust global fulfillment network." However, it's not colorful if that agency French customers will have to order from Marketplace sellers alfresco the country as able-bodied as have those wares unapprehended in without subdual through a warehouse, or if French Marketplace sellers will be bulky to solicitation the items directly or through an Matriarch partner.

Update April 15th, 5:05PM ET: Affixed affixed commentary from Matriarch regarding its measures to assure employees during COVID-19.