The family of an Amazon employee who was killed after a tornado ripped through an Illinois warehouse filed a lawsuit against his former employer, alleging that the company put “profits over safety.”
Austin McEwan, who operated as a delivery driver at the Edwardsville, Illinois, warehouse, died alongside five other workers on Dec. 10 when a tornado hit the facility. His family filed a lawsuit in the Third Judicial Court in Madison County on Monday, seeking damages from Amazon in excess of $50,000, alleging that the company did not take enough safety measures to protect its employees during the storm.
“It’s very clear that there could be a profits over safety argument, in this case, that Amazon was more concerned, during its peak delivery season, with keeping its production lines running,” said attorney Jack Casciato in a press conference on Monday.
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The lawsuit alleges that Amazon and the warehouse in question failed to exercise “reasonable care” to protect the 46 employees on-site during the tornado warning. These failures include the decisions not to evacuate, provide a basement shelter, or design a warehouse that can stand up to a tornado, as well as requiring employees to continue working until moments before the tornado struck.
Amazon disputed several of the claims made in the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit misunderstands key facts, such as the difference between various types of severe weather and tornado alerts, as well as the condition and safety of the building,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told the Washington Examiner. “The truth is that this was a new building less than four years old, built in compliance with all applicable building codes, and the local teams were following the weather conditions closely. Severe weather watches are common in this part of the country and, while precautions are taken, are not cause for most businesses to close down.”
“We believe our team did the right thing as soon as a warning was issued,” Nantel added. “And they worked to move people to safety as quickly as possible. We will defend against this lawsuit, but our focus continues to be on supporting our employees and partners, the families who lost loved ones, the surrounding community, and all those affected by the tornadoes.”
The lawsuit also names the construction company that built the warehouse, claiming that it failed to build enough shelter space to keep employees safe and that it was not up to the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a Dec. 13 press conference that the building was “up to code” but vowed to investigate if that code needed to change.
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OSHA announced on Dec. 14 that it was opening an investigation into the deaths at Amazon’s warehouse to determine whether “violations of workplace safety and/or health regulations are found.”
The family’s lawsuit is seeking $50,000 from the four parties named in the lawsuit, totaling $200,000.
