Former Amazon employee speaks out after workplace shooting

WEST JEFFERSON, Ohio (WCMH) – A near-tragic workplace shooting at the Amazon Fulfillment CMH5 building on May 12 raised safety concerns for many employees.

A second gun incident occurred a few days later just outside Amazon in West Jefferson. Amazon maintains that the second incident did not take place on Amazon property, but on the public road outside the property.

Regardless, a police report from West Jefferson police says a contract worker on an Amazon property retrieved a gun from his personal vehicle before an altercation with a truck driver who had dropped off a load on Amazon.

These two incidents led to numerous concerns posted by employees on their company's discussion forum called “MyVoice.” One of the employees who posted messages regarding workplace safety was Breyonn Dockery. She had only worked in the building where the shooting happened for about a month.

“I was supposed to work that day, but I was able to take the day off,” she said.

But the shooting had an impact on everyone. She took to the forum to ask: “What are you going to do to make sure this doesn't happen again?” Because our safety matters too.

Dockery was subsequently suspended several days after posting that initial post. She was called into the human resources office for a twenty-minute conversation with a human resources representative and a member of employee relations.

During that meeting, Dockery was asked about her concerns, talked about the company's health resources and asked for suggestions. At one point, about 15 minutes into the meeting, Dockery took hand soap out of her purse or bag and said, “If that was a gun, how would you stop me would you bring it here?

Immediately afterward, she suggested more safety protocols to prevent someone from bringing a gun into the building so easily, using this hand soap as an example of an item that can be brought to work without being control. The building has metal detectors, but these are placed at the exit.

“When they take more steps to protect their assets than to protect their employees, I feel like that speaks for itself,” she said.

After this meeting with HR, Dockery was called by an Amazon loss prevention investigator and another HR representative.

“I felt like I was a target just because I was speaking out about safety issues,” she said.

An hour after that call, Dockery was told not to return to work, but that she would still be paid.

Amazon representative Steve Kelly said in a written statement that “per standard protocol and procedures, an employee has been suspended with pay following an alleged altercation with a manager. This investigation is ongoing.

“I am no longer with Amazon. No, yes, I quit the next day,” Dockery said.

When she asked why she was suspended, she said she was told it was “confidential.” Dockery then posted a message on “MyVoice” for his colleagues to see. This message was later deleted by the application administrators.

Amazon's Kelly sent a statement regarding safety measures at the facility.

“The safety of our employees is always our top priority. Based on advice from expert law enforcement and safety and security experts, we take a comprehensive approach to preventing workplace violence with a variety of safety controls in place and we regularly commit to improving safety policies and procedures at our facilities. Following the incident at our West Jefferson sorting center, facility leaders proactively and repeatedly reached out to employees to see how they were doing, offering support and seeking feedback.

Additionally, Kelly provided written explanations of the company's policy regarding messages shared through “MyVoice” and why certain messages are deleted or hidden.

“Comments disseminated via internal communications mechanisms are offensive, vulgar or contain personal attacks,” he wrote.

Amazon also provided police security on site following the shooting for “several days,” according to Kelly.

Even though Dockery no longer works at Amazon, she worries about her former colleagues who don't feel safe.

“I don’t feel like they care. I have the impression that they want us to believe that this is the case. But actions speak louder than words, and I haven’t seen any action that shows they care about our safety,” she said.

Dockery found a new job and when asked what she thought could improve the situation at Amazon, she said, “Recognize, you know, that the situation happened instead of just trying to to cover it up, to try to, you know, manage the narrative. and everyone acknowledges that it happened, acknowledges our feelings, and tells us what they are going to do to prevent things like this from happening again.

Kelly also wrote: “Employees are encouraged to raise concerns, questions and ideas with company leadership and are free to communicate their personal experiences at Amazon with the media.” »