0French Data Protection Authority, also known as CNIL, gave Amazon France Logistique a $35 million (€32 million) fine for an allegedly "excessively intrusive system" used to monitor the performance of its workers.
Amazon France responded citing its disagreement with the accusation and will possibly file an appeal.
CNIL Accuses Amazon French Warehouse of Employee Intrusion
Based on the findings of CNIL, the warehouse uses a system that allows managers to track employees through the scanner used to process packages. The scanners will alert the management if it detects inactivity of over 10 minutes.
The CNIL is focused on investigating the method of "stow machine guns" which can report if an article was scanned too fast or under 1.25 seconds. According to the agency, Amazon France had breached multiple European Union privacy rules or the General Data Protection Regulation.
"It was illegal to set up a system measuring work interruptions with such accuracy, potentially requiring employees to justify every break or interruption," the French regulator explained.
The agency is also investigating Amazon's system of keeping employee data for a long period. According to CNIL, the company does not need every data generated by the scanners since real-time data and weekly statistics are enough.
Amazon France Logistique Refutes Accusations
Meanwhile, the French warehouse expressed its strong disagreement with the CNIL's conclusions, calling it "factually incorrect."
"Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations," the company wrote.
Outside France, Amazon's Seattle-based warehouse also uses the same system to manage the business and reach the target performance rate. However, French regulators explained that it is different from monitoring worker activity.
On the other hand, Amazon also shared that it will extend the idle time warnings to 30 minutes from 10 minutes. Moreover, it will also deactivate the detection of handling speeds for the stow machine guns.
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