France’s data protection agency CNIL has fined Amazon’s French warehouses unit €32 million ($34.9 million) for employing an “excessively intrusive” surveillance system to monitor staff performance, France 24 reports.
Amazon France Logistique used scanners to track employees’ work, alerting management to inactivity exceeding 10 minutes and parcel handling down to the second. The CNIL found surveillance methods, including “stow machine guns” tracking scanning speed, violated the EU’s GDPR.
Amazon plans to appeal, rejecting the findings as “factually incorrect,” while stating the systems ensure “security, quality, and efficiency.” The fine amounts to around 3% of Amazon France Logistique’s 2021 revenue.
