An Illinois Amazon, Inc. delivery driver was told by her boss via text message to "just keep delivering" about 80 minutes before tornadoes hit a company warehouse in Edwardsville on Dec. 10, killing six workers, according to a Bloomberg report.
The driver had suggested to her boss that she return to base, but instead the boss said that she would be fired if she did not complete the deliveries.
"Radio's been going off," the driver said in a text obtained by Bloomberg News.
"Okay just keep delivering, we can't just call people back for a warning unless Amazon tells us to do so," the driver's boss responded.
More than a half hour later, the driver messaged her boss again.
"Tornado alarms are going off over here....," the driver said.
"Just keep delivering for now," the boss responded. And the followed up by saying, "Shelter in place for now, I just got word from Amazon. Give it about 15-20 minutes and then continue as normal. I will let everyone know if that changes."
The back and forth between the driver and her boss continued, as the driver insisted on getting somewhere safe and heading back to the facility, not sheltering in her delivery vehicle. The driver expressed her fear of safety to her boss, and was met with a harsh response.
"If you decide to return with your packages it will be viewed as you refusing your route, which will ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning," the boss responded to the scared driver.
The authenticity of the texts between the driver and her boss were confirmed by a person familiar with the situation. According to this person, the driver was about 30 miles away from the Edwardsville facilities and worked out of a delivery station across the highway from the building destroyed by tornadoes.
“This was a developing situation across a broad geographic area, and unfortunately the delivery service partner’s dispatcher didn’t follow the standard safety practice,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “This dispatcher should have immediately directed the driver to seek shelter when the driver reported hearing tornado sirens. While this text exchange was going on, the local Amazon team was ensuring each delivery service partner had directed their drivers to shelter in place or seek shelter and advised them to stop delivering for the evening. We’re glad the driver is safe and we’re using the learnings from this incident to improve our policies and guidance for delivery service partners and drivers. Under no circumstance should the dispatcher have threatened the driver’s employment, and we’re investigating the full details of this incident and will take any necessary action.”
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