New class action lawsuits target Amazon over non-competes and pay transparency

Two new class action lawsuits take aim at Amazon’s hiring practices, alleging that the tech giant violated Washington state laws governing pay transparency and non-compete agreements.

Plaintiffs represented by Seattle-based law firm Emery Reddy filed the suits last week in King County Superior Court in Seattle.

“We comply with all applicable laws in the localities where we operate,” Amazon said in a statement to GeekWire. “We’ve just received these complaints and are reviewing them.”

One of the lawsuits claims that Amazon required plaintiffs to agree to clauses restricting post-Amazon work opportunities, despite earning less than the salary threshold required to enforce such agreements, which went into effect in 2020.

The annual salary threshold for Washington state’s non-compete law started at $100,000 in 2020. It adjusts for inflation each year and in 2024 rose to $120,599.99.

“Noncompetition covenants persist even after becoming illegal in 2020 — they’ve just gone underground,” said Timothy Emery, an attorney with Emery Reddy. “As alleged, employers like Amazon cleverly disguise illegal non-competes as ‘nonsolicitation’ clauses. Unfortunately for the lowest-paid workers, little has changed since the law was passed in 2020.”

Non-compete agreements are a lightning rod in the tech industry, with proponents claiming they protect trade secrets and critics arguing they stifle innovation.

The Federal Trade Commission earlier this year issued a rule to ban non-compete agreements but a federal judge in Texas last month blocked the ban from taking effect.

Salary transparency

The other complaint focuses on a Washington state law called the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act (EPOA), which went into effect in January 2023. The law mandates that employers with 15 or more employees include wage scale or salary range in job postings.

The complaint alleges that Amazon did not include wage scale or salary ranges in postings for positions based in Washington state. The plaintiffs argue that they lost valuable time applying for positions without knowing the pay rate and were unable to effectively negotiate pay and compare the compensation with other opportunities.

The complaint includes a job posting from Amazon that lists a salary range: “The base pay for this position ranges from $66,800/year in our lowest geographic market up to $142,800/year in our highest geographic market.”

Reddy said the wide range “does little to inform workers what pay to expect.”

The complaint cites research indicating a persistent wage gap in Washington, particularly affecting women.

“In short, this wage range does nothing to advance wage transparency, and little to overcome wage inequity, which relies on transparency,” Reddy said.

Both lawsuits are embedded below.

New class action lawsuit targets Amazon over non-competes by GeekWire on Scribd

New class action lawsuit targets Amazon over pay transparency by GeekWire on Scribd