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(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) on Tuesday defeated a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of nearly 7,000 workers in California that claimed the company should have reimbursed employees who worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic for home office expenses.
U.S. District Judge Vincent Chhabria in San Francisco said the named plaintiff, David Williams, failed to show that Amazon had a company-wide policy of not reimbursing employees for internet, cell phone and other costs, and the judge denied his motion to certify the workers as a class.
The judge said that more than 600 of the 7,000 proposed class members were reimbursed $66.49 on average for home internet expenses, and some were reimbursed in full.
Williams’ motion for class certification was denied without prejudice, meaning he can file a renewed motion later on.
Amazon and lawyers for Williams did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Williams sued Amazon in 2021 individually and added class-action claims last year. He has accused Amazon of violating a California law requiring employers to reimburse workers for reasonable work-related expenses.
Chhabria in January denied Amazon’s motion to dismiss the case. The company had argued that it did not owe reimbursements because the costs resulted from government stay-at-home orders and not any decision by Amazon.
Williams’ lawyers have filed similar lawsuits against several other companies including IBM (NYSE:IBM) Corp, Fox Broadcasting Co and Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL). Some of those cases have settled, with businesses agreeing to give remote workers stipends of up to $83 per month to cover home office expenses.
(This story has been refiled to add the dropped word “in” in paragraph 1)
