Channel Conflict, Discrimination, Shake-Ups: What’s Going On at AWS?

… a human resources representative, with no repercussions. Interestingly, several media outlets say Warner was fired in June. Her LinkedIn profile, however, still showed her as employed at AWS as of Aug. 13.

Diana Cuervo says her white male supervisor made comments including, “Latins suck,” and “How is a Latin like you working here?” She says she was then illegally fired for reporting a dangerous gas leak at an Amazon facility in Everett, Washington.

Lastly, Emily Sousa, a woman of Asian-American descent who worked in Amazon’s Harleysville, Pennsylvania, facility, says she was subjected to sexual harassment from a male manager, then demoted after rebuffing him. Sousa said she reported the problems to HR but that Amazon did nothing about it.

Wigdor LLP Partners is representing each of the women. The law firm also represents Charlotte Newman, a Black female manager at AWS who earlier this year sued for sexual harassment. Newman remains at AWS. She serves as head of the underrepresented founder startup business development group. Among her career accolades, Newman has worked as the economic policy adviser to Sen. Cory Booker and senior legislative assistant to Congressman Dan Kildee.

Petition Points Fingers at Treatment of Women, Underrepresented Groups

Meanwhile, more than 550 AWS staff have signed a petition stating that the cloud computing provider supports “an underlying culture of systemic discrimination, harassment, bullying and bias against women and under-represented groups.”

The complaint targets the professional services unit, in particular. In it, employees asked Selipsky to establish a staff-led council to work with external investigators. The Seattle Times, which reviewed the petition, said workers want to “hold the company to account in how it responds to the investigation and any recommendations made, and to ensure the voice of employees is central to the review process.”

The system at AWS “is set up to protect the company and the status quo, rather than the employees filing the complaints,” the petition continues.

AWS has indeed hired an outside firm to investigate the concerns. In fact, an AWS spokesperson told The Seattle Times that Selipsky did just that even before he received the employee petition. Selipsky responded to the document’s creators. Channel Futures obtained a copy of that July 16 email, which reads:

“Thank you for your thoughtful note on what is a very important topic. I share your passion for ensuring that our workplace is inclusive and free of bias and unfair treatment. I can tell you we are committed to that outcome, as well as to specifically investigating any incident or practice that is inappropriate. I understand you are aware that, given the nature of the concerns here, we have retained an outside firm to investigate and understand any inappropriate conduct that you or others may have experienced or witnessed. This firm is experienced and objective, and I personally will review their independent findings, which will help guide any further actions.

“I know that you have been actively engaged in productive conversations on these issues with the AWS ID&E team, and I would encourage that to continue. Personally, I believe that frank and open discussion is really important.

“Thanks again for raising these concerns. We are all committed, as am I personally, to making sure we get this right.”

The authors requested that Selipsky share the investigation’s findings by Oct. 30. However, he has not …