https://ift.tt/wEcZxH family of a delivery driver who died last month when a tornado collapsed the central Illinois Amazon facility where he worked filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday in Madison County.
The action on behalf of Austin McEwen, 26, claims that Amazon failed to warn employees of dangerous weather or provide safe shelter before a tornado slammed the Edwardsville facility on December 10, killing McEwen and five others.
It is believed to be the first legal action taken in response to the deaths. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation.
McEwen’s parents, Randy and Alice McEwen, allege that Amazon administrators knew severe weather was imminent but had no emergency plan nor evacuated employees from the fulfillment center.
“Sadly, it appears that Amazon placed profits first during this holiday season instead of the safety of our son and the other five,” Alice McEwen said at a news conference on Monday.
Amazon “carelessly required individuals … to continue working up until the moments before the tornado struck,” the lawsuit says, and “improperly directed” McEwen and colleagues to shelter in a rest room, which it says the company knew or should have known wasn’t safe.
“They had people working up to the point of no return,” the McEwens’ lawyer, Jack Casciato, said.
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel released a statement that countered that the lawsuit “misunderstands key facts,” including the differences among severe weather alerts and the condition and safety of the building.