A lawsuit filed by New York attorney general Letitia James against Amazon over the company's worker safety during the covid-19 pandemic and alleged retaliation has been rejected by a New York appeals court, AP reported on Tuesday. James had previously complained that Amazon's two workplaces in New York City might have access to covid-19, and that the online retail giant had illegally retaliated against workers who raised warehouse security issues.
The court of Appeal said that the federal labor law took precedence over the state labor law, so the National Labor Relations Commission should be the competent authority to deal with such disputes.
The court also said that the lawsuit's efforts to require Amazon to comply with the covid-19 workplace guidelines in New York were no longer meaningful because they had been cancelled.
Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company previously said that it "acted quickly from the beginning of the pandemic, listened to and learned from experts" and adopted a "comprehensive covid-19 safety approach".