Even though there are many elements that must work in sync for us to be able to live rather efficiently, some of them have just clearly proven to be more influential than others. For instance, as individuals, one of the things we are always seeking, regardless of the context, is balance. Our mind is wired in a way that it subconsciously goes through all the possible tweaks we can make to strike balance on a consistent basis. However, our own actions can sometimes turn out to be detrimental for this desired equilibrium. What’s worse is that the effects of such disruption do carry a strong tendency to be far-reaching, which makes a concept like regulation seem utterly important. With dedicated regulation across the board, we have been able to achieve an optimum level of order, but the whole picture remains one far thing from being perfect. Time and again, we see companies and institutions trying to skirt around the rules, thus putting a dent in the healthy and more universal setup that the regulatory bodies work so hard to conjure up and maintain. On some occasions these attempts to bypass ethical obligations are successfully captured, while, unfortunately, on others they are not. For Amazon, it shook out to be the former.
Federal Trade Commission has announced that it will be releasing a sum worth $60 million for Amazon Flex drivers who were not given their tip money during a timeframe stretching all the way from 2016 to 2019. The announcement closes a sensational case where Amazon illegally withheld tips from its drivers, prompting U.S. government to eventually file a lawsuit against the company in 2019. If we are to put things in perspective here, the scale of this scam is easily visible in figures associated with the upcoming payouts from FTC. According to some reports, the commission is preparing over 139,501 checks and 1,621 PayPal payments for every driver who happen to have more than $5 in withheld tips. While the average repayment is sizing up around $422, the biggest payout to a single driver would be $28, 000. Drivers are expecting to receive their tips by 7th January, 2022.
“Rather than passing along 100 percent of customers’ tips to drivers, as it had promised to do, Amazon used the money itself,” said Daniel Kaufman, acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
These transactions are, of course, being facilitated by the amount that Amazon surrendered in February, but it remains as one of the umpteenth times when the e-commerce giant has mistreated its employees.