Amazon is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit across the US filed on Tuesday alleging it systematically discriminated against pregnant workers by denying basic workplace accommodations and threatening or terminating employees who took pregnancy-related breaks or time off.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, by four former warehouse employees, alleges Amazon routinely denied requests for chairs, bathroom and water breaks, and time off for prenatal appointments.

Reuters reported that the lawsuit claims the company also required medical documentation from workers seeking accommodations and deducted protected breaks from their unpaid time-off balances.

The plaintiffs allege the practices violate federal and New York worker protection laws and have affected potentially thousands of current and former pregnant employees. The lawsuit seeks compensation including lost pay and benefits, as well as punitive damages, and calls for changes to Amazon's workplace policies.

A Better Balance, the workers' rights organisation representing the plaintiffs, told USA TODAY that it has received nearly 200 calls to its legal helpline from Amazon workers in 2026, with many reporting similar experiences. Its president, Inimai Chettiar, said, “This (Amazon) case is not an isolated corporate labor dispute,” arguing that the case highlights broader concerns about pregnant workers' rights.

The complaint details several cases involving warehouse employees who say their accommodation requests were denied or delayed. Willamina Barclay, a former Amazon worker in Rochester, New York, said she was taken to hospital after experiencing severe abdominal pain during a shift in June 2025, having previously requested restrictions including a seated position, additional breaks and a 15-pound lifting limit.

According to the complaint, Amazon subsequently issued Barclay a termination warning for taking too much unpaid time off and dismissed her four days after she called out with a doctor's note describing a pregnancy-related condition. Barclay told USA TODAY, “I really don’t want pregnant women to experience the things that I’ve experienced at Amazon.”

Jennifer Hatch, another plaintiff, said Amazon repeatedly denied her request to sit during her pregnancy and that her employment was later terminated after breaks reduced her unpaid time-off balance. Kristina Green, who worked at an Amazon warehouse in Rochester, alleged she was disciplined over breaks to pump breast milk before being fired in May 2026.

The allegations come after a federal judge in Illinois ruled on Aug. 17 that a former Amazon warehouse worker could proceed with a pregnancy discrimination claim after alleging the company reduced her overtime after she disclosed her pregnancy, eliminated it after she requested light duty and fired her 17 days after granting the accommodation.

The judge said the timing and sequence of events plausibly supported an inference that the termination was connected to her pregnancy, although the court dismissed her separate claim under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

The latest case follows years of allegations concerning Amazon's treatment of pregnant warehouse employees. The BBC reported in 2019 that seven similar legal cases had been brought by pregnant warehouse workers over the preceding eight years, while Amazon said at the time that it had never fired anyone for being pregnant and that it worked with employees to accommodate pregnancy-related medical needs.

The legal scrutiny has continued under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which provides employees with a broad right to reasonable pregnancy-related workplace accommodations unless doing so would create undue hardship for an employer. In 2025, a Florida Amazon worker sued after alleging the company denied leave for surgery related to a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy and subsequently fired her; the case was later resolved.

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