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Amazon Texts Tell Employee with COVID-19 He’s Losing PTO

Amazon recently changed its workers' paid leave amount when sick with COVID-19.

An Amazon warehouse worker received a slew of texts from the company alerting him his earned time off was decreasing after testing positive for COVID-19.

The daily texts were sent from Amazon’s automated HR systems to Drew Duzinskas, an employee of a warehouse in Illinois.

Despite Duzinskas notifying Amazon about a positive COVID-19 test over the holidays, the texts told him the company was deducting his missed shifts from his balance of earned time off.

According to Business Insider, it is unclear if the time was actually deducted from the allotted amount. 

Amazon recently changed workers’ paid leave amount when sick with COVID-19 from 10 days to seven after new CDC guidelines.

Since Amazon ceased onsite COVID-19 testing in July, workers have struggled to get tests. 

Employees have also experienced difficulties reaching Amazon’s systems for applying for sick leave.

One Amazon contractor said calls holding reached 1,700 at one point.

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