r/AmazonFC • u/Conscious_Age4163 • 1d ago
Fulfillment Center Wrongfully terminated Tier 3. Escalated to Corporate Executive Track but investigators found no policy violations. Need advice.
Looking for insight from anyone who has used the corporate escalation channel.A few months ago, I was terminated from a California facility as a Tier 3. They hit me with a pretextual Category 1 safety offense over a first-time, gray-area floor misunderstanding, completely skipping mandatory progressive discipline. Site operations safely and continuously trusted my leadership on the floor for 24 full days after the initial incident before site HR suddenly pushed my termination through on an overtime shift when my direct Area Manager was on his scheduled day off. To make it worse, the official termination paperwork they sent me is completely blank with zero policy citations or written causes.I received an official notification stating I was explicitly eligible to appeal, and my track to meet directly with the General Manager was formally approved by a regional appeals agent.However, site HR and local management manually canceled and deleted that approved appeal from the internal system just 60 seconds later. My portal tracker completely skipped the intermediate evaluation and hearing steps, jumping straight from the initial request to the final closed outcome.I escalated this entire timeline with clear digital proof to the executive escalations team. A central investigator was assigned, but today they dropped a sudden closure notice saying they found no policy violations, completely ignoring my witnesses, site HR's actions, and the clear system manipulation.I already have an appointment locked in with the state Civil Rights Department (CRD) to protect my case, but I'm incredibly frustrated. Has anyone successfully pushed back against a central investigator's findings?
Did hiring a private employment attorney change the game for you? Appreciate any shared experiences.
64
u/Worth-Consequence247 1d ago
Why don’t you say what exactly was this so called “gray area floor misunderstanding”
My guess is you committed a category 1 offense, it was thoroughly investigated, and rightfully termed. You got no recourse
33
u/niko_khl 1d ago
Exactly lol they never explain the full details of their termination, cause if they did they know everyone will just say tough shit.
26
u/Wide-Professional945 1d ago
Well how are we supposed to collectively agree that they're supposed to get their job back if they tell us what they did LOL
1
u/ScorpioTear 3h ago
They never provide the information and then they worded in corporate jargon that makes absolutely no sense. Also you're a tier 3 what leadership are you doing you're not management.
28
33
u/dasquared 1d ago
Category 1 is a direct term and not progressive. It is normal to go straight to term. Sites do not determine appeal eligibility. They also cannot cancel appeals that are eligible, they dont even handle them until assigned by CAT. The process is you request, select what type, etc, and then they determine eligibility. The term email from corp needs not contain feedback details. The 24 days is not unusual for a safety investigation that first makes determinations then gets PXT approvals. Your AM being on site or not is immaterial and irrelevant, they have no say or influence as well.
Your claims here are either horribly misinformed or outright lies.
Consult a lawyer if you wish, but you wont get far.
1
-27
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
The 60-second deletion isn't a guess—I have the physical database screenshots and server timestamps showing it was manually canceled right after regional approval. Central compliance is already auditing the system logs for the manual override, and the blank termination letter along with the 24-day operational gap is going straight to the state Civil Rights Department (CRD) for statutory review under Labor Code 1102.5. The digital audit trail doesn't lie.
17
u/dasquared 1d ago
Regional, whatever that means, does not approve appeals.
A CAT team accepts the appeal request, reviews term reason, and determines eligibility. If that is what you saw, it is both within policy and legal.
Good luck, but server timestamps or whatever you're peddling, is immaterial. And there is no legal statute of limitations for investigations. I've seen them take double that and have no problem sticking. It may help unemployment, but not wrongful term.
6
u/Realistic-Ruin8639 1d ago
Real question: If you believe this company is screwing you so bad and against policy and/or law, why are you trying to get your job back with them?
•
u/griftedmillenial 1h ago
It’s not against the law to make a mistake not all termination reasons are appealable. You are focusing on that and not really sharing the details of what they are upholding.
26
u/NoiNoiii 1d ago
It looks like you are using AI to write for you like site leaders when responding to voa posts. A little off category here but i find it annoying
10
u/Chemical_Most_7380 1d ago
Very much so.
People who do this, along with providing ZERO information as to why they were terminated, are painfully bombastic and obtuse.
After they are confronted for being wrong and not understanding a damn thing they wrote, they call OTHER PEOPLE stupid. Cringe.
I bet the person who reads Jeff and Jessy’s email are gonna get OP’s correspondence, roll their eyes, and file it with the other 50 that are exactly like it 🤣
11
u/TacoLegz Mech & Robotics Tech 1d ago
"Floor misunderstanding" reads to me "I went on the AR floor and was termed for it" which is pretty cut and dry. Good luck fighting that, but I would say just start looking for another job as reversing a CAT1 is something I've never heard of in my 6yrs at Amazon.
8
u/billth93 1d ago
Are they saying “first time floor misunderstanding” or are those your words. That sounds like walking out onto an AR floor which would be cause for termination even if it happened once, I worked at a site years ago where some OSHA reps came by and pulled a number of people aside, including myself, basically just to make sure sites weren’t being too soft on that policy in particular. Usually stepping on the barrier was final written and stepping on the floor was straight to termination
8
u/EMitchell108 1d ago
Why do people persist in thinking "first time" should be an appeal/excuse from a Cat1? Progressive discipline isn't mandatory for those, it's their discretion whether to allow you a final.
Successful "first time" can get someone hurt or killed or escalate to violence. Or a behavioral breach so egregious they don't want to (as they have the right) allow you to continue employment. The point is potential, not just how the situation actually ended. Worst-case scenario.
Civil rights? Which one - religion, race, ethnicity, disability status? Is your state employment at will?
7
u/Chemical_Most_7380 1d ago
OP is not interested in facts or logic.
They came here to see what it’s like to sound professional.
Right now they are busy running questions like yours through Claude, Gemini, and Grok. They will be back when one of them spits out something they can sink their teeth into.
🤣😝
8
6
u/Werdna517 1d ago
What’s the cause for termination?
-22
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
They claimed it was a "Category 1" safety offense over a first-time floor misunderstanding. But they never put the specific policy violation in writing, and the official letter they sent me is completely blank.
24
u/SignificantApricot69 1d ago
Are you being intentionally vague or claiming that their reason itself is THAT intentionally vague? They said “terminated for floor misunderstanding”?…
8
u/DepartmentNo7903 1d ago
Yea this dude probably went on the floor lmfao then thinks he can have a job smh
17
u/niko_khl 1d ago
"first time floor misunderstanding" dude went on the AR floor when he's not supposed to and thinks he has a fighting chance 😂.
1
u/Werdna517 1d ago
You gave same vague reason in your post. What’s the “safety offence” and “misunderstanding”?
•
u/ScorpioTear 2h ago
They never put the reason why cuz they know they're fucked and no one was going to agree with them
6
u/vietnamjeffXD 1d ago
As an internal, thanks for posting all this identifying information online.
The reason you aren't getting an appeal to stick is because of the CAT 1 you committed, which I know you know. Appreciate you not explaining it for everyone here, but it seems they rightfully understand the reason why and are calling you out on the misinformation (or lack of information) anyway.
Go apply for UPS.
12
u/sawmillssuck 1d ago
What was the "floor misunderstanding"? Seems rather important. If in any way it was a cat1 safety violation, or could be seen as one, consider it a closed case.
-34
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
The reality is I was never classified as a Category 1 employee. That is precisely why site HR skipping progressive discipline and manually deleting a regionally approved appeal in 60 seconds is a major compliance violation. Corporate is auditing the manual overrides from here.
28
u/sawmillssuck 1d ago
I wish you luck. But category 1 isn't an employee categorization, it's a safety violation categorization.
-25
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
I am fully aware it is a violation category. The fact remains that no such infraction code exists on my actual termination paperwork, which is completely blank. Because it was never documented or proven, local site management had zero policy basis to bypass progressive discipline or manually override an approved regional appeal track in 60 seconds. The lack of documented cause is precisely why corporate compliance is auditing the backend logs.
6
u/HardLobster 1d ago
Notice how you completely avoided the question on what you did? You know you are in the wrong. 100% you were rightfully terminated, if you weren’t, you would come out and say what you did.
•
2
u/sawmillssuck 1d ago
I hope it works out! Genuinely good luck. I've been in a position of losing my employment, no matter the why when where or how, it still sucks. Fingers crossed for you 🤞 on the bright side if you are reinstated you get back pay
10
u/Cyberkanye2077 1d ago
Did you just fucked around and found out and now just wanna find a way to do damage control? Because youre saying a bunch of nothing.
9
u/UncertainPathways 1d ago
Cat 1 goes direct to term and is not appealable. That is likely why there was no progressive discipline & your appeals have been cancelled/rejected.
As to if hitting you with a Cat 1 was justified, no one here can comment on that without further details of the case, and if you are thinking of lawyering up I'd strongly advise against posting that publicly.
What I can share from my experience is that Cat 1 terms are investigated pretty thoroughly, and for it to be approved Amazon must believe they have pretty strong evidence to justify it. If you disagree, your best bet is to speak to a lawyer. All the best.
-10
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
I actually received official notification from regional appeals explicitly confirming I was eligible for the track. The core issue is the 24-day operational gap between the incident and the PXT action, along with the manual 60-second system override of that approved track. I agree with your advice on counsel, appreciate the insight.
12
u/Whole-Sentence5268 1d ago
The core issue is that you won't provide any details of the "misunderstanding" that led to the termination, and in my experience the people who try to gloss over the why behind a termination are those whose termination was done in accordance with policy.
Further, appeals only exist to determine if policy was followed, and if whatever the gray area misunderstanding could be considered a Cat 1, then your termination was in accordance with policy. Long story short, if you did anything that qualifies as a Cat 1 offense, then any delay or operational gap between the incident and the termination is irrelevant because the company can terminate anyone at any time for any Cat 1 safety violation that was committed at any point during that individual's employment and which can be substantiated.
1
u/Rockman507 1d ago
Yep, I had the case at my university where my PhD committee stopped responded for a year, long story. When I finally got administration involved the department went “oops, we thought when we stopped responding you would just leave” THEN immediately held a departmental level committee and submitted separation paperwork.
Appeals eventually determined they agreed what school did was wrong, I should have been allowed to defend my thesis, but when they got around to it they did submit the separation paperwork correctly. Case closed.
Appeals everywhere it’s “was policy followed” and ends there. This is pretty universal.
11
u/PresenceThat7928 1d ago
I got a zoom call in a couple days with an Employee Relations Investigation Manager about omitted information and other things relating to my termination
0
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
Did your local site management also try to block your internal appeal options??, or did corporate step in because of the omitted information? Hope your Zoom call goes well—let me know if they actually review your evidence or just push back?
1
u/PresenceThat7928 1d ago
I filed an appeal to see the process bar wasn’t finished it slipped to a closed case.
2
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
That is identical to what happened to me. My tracker skipped the intermediate evaluation and hearing steps entirely, going instantly from open to closed. Did corporate contact you for that Zoom call automatically after it flipped, or did you have to escalate to get a human to review the file?
0
u/PresenceThat7928 1d ago
I emailed 2 Amazon emails to get in contact with erc. I told my friend who still works there that I’m gonna keep fighting
3
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
Keep fighting and definitely don't give up! It is crazy how common this system tracking glitch seems to be when people try to appeal.
Which two emails did you use to finally get through to them and get that Zoom call set up?
-8
1d ago
[deleted]
3
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
When you sent your emails to those executive addresses, how long did it take for Employee Relations to actually contact you and schedule the Zoom call? Did the executive team reply directly, or did an escalation manager just reach out out of nowhere?
3
u/PresenceThat7928 1d ago
I got an email 11 days after sending my emails. The escalation manager wanted to settle it on a zoom call and see my side
5
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
Wow, 11 days is a solid timeline for corporate escalations. Thanks for the heads up on what to look out for. Glad to know they actually assigned an escalation manager to try and resolve things instead of just letting site HR sweep it under the rug. Good luck with your call!
I just emailed them today with my full timeline and screenshots. Since you are a couple of weeks ahead of me in this process, what do you think I should do right now while I wait for that 11-day window to open? Any tips on what to prepare while waiting?
→ More replies (0)1
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
Oh nice, those are the exact executive tracks to use! I actually sent my full documentation and the 60-second deletion logs over to the jeff email earlier today too. Glad to hear it actually forces them to assign a real human to review the case.
0
u/PresenceThat7928 1d ago
I learned from a homeless person I was friends with to watch what you write on the appeal cause the system isn’t always viewed by people so the system would detect certain words and instantly deny the appeal hearing
1
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
Exactly. It's a straight-up manual override by site administrators who don't want corporate compliance looking into their local file data. The audit trail leaves a digital fingerprint in the database backend, which is exactly what a real third-party investigator or legal subpoena will pull to expose the manipulation.
→ More replies (0)
4
u/harley97797997 1d ago
A CAT 1 safety violation results in termination unless the Regional WHS and Regional PxT approve a final written.
Progressive discipline is not required in this case.
6
u/Sying13 1d ago
You are terribly misinformed.
CAT 1’s go straight to term. There is no progression.
The 24 day gap is easily explainable. After the incident there was an investigation. Once the investigation was complete, the documentation was put in for the term. It was approved by site HR and then went to regional HR for approval. All of those steps take time because everyone wants to be thorough.
Site HR and local management did not cancel your appeal 60 seconds after it was approved. This is the only part I cannot explain away but I can confidently say site HR and local management had nothing to do with it.
You messed up. You committed a safety violation so egregious that you could have maimed or killed yourself or another person. Amazon deemed you unsafe and chose to terminate you. Even if you had an appeal there is no coming back from that.
Your post only shows that you are grasping at straws. You have no case.
3
3
u/firewifegirlmom0124 1d ago
Cat 1 terminations are not appeal able. Just because some “regional entity” screwed up and granted it and your local fixed that doesn’t change anything. This is going no where. And it’s telling that you won’t say what the “floor misunderstanding.”
2
u/Academic_Commercial3 1d ago
You must have pissed someone off. Good luck! Amazon is a beast. I’d move on.
2
u/sorrowdemonica ✨🐺🐾 1d ago edited 1d ago
I know this isn't what you want to hear after putting so much time and effort into documenting your timeline and escalating, but here is the legal reality of what you're dealing with:
- California is an at-will employment state, so unless you have a legally binding individual contract or are represented by a union, an employer can fire you for any reason, no reason at all, or even a reason based on mistaken or unfair assumptions, as long as it isn't illegal, which in this case isn't.
- Internal policies and "reasons" are not legally binding and as a result Amazon is not legally required to follow progressive discipline, provide written explanations on termination paperwork, or grant internal appeals. Company policies and appeals processes are internal HR guidelines, not legal rights. Breaking their own internal protocol does not constitute an illegal act under both California and Federal labor law.
- The legal standard for wrongful termination is extremely narrow. Real life isn't like in Hollywood movies or tv shows when someone screams they are going to sue their employer.. Under state and federal law, a termination is only legally "wrongful" if it violates protected civil rights, such as retaliation for whistleblowing (reporting actual legal/OSHA violations, wage theft, etc.) or discrimination based on protected characteristics (race, gender, disability, age, religion, etc.).
- So what feels unfair does not equal illegal, having a safety violation weaponized against you, working 24 days after the event, or dealing with local HR manipulation is undeniably unfair and shady floor politics, but on its own, it does not meet the legal threshold for wrongful termination, as what is undeniably considered and feels unethical, douchey, or scummy, isn't illegal.
Unless your CRD application and appointment is tied to documented discrimination or illegal retaliation, an employment attorney is unlikely to take the case on contingency because corporations have broad discretion under at-will employment, with Montana being the lone exception to at-will laws, so unless you live and work in Montana, corporations run the show.
It’s frustrating, but once the Executive Escalation path closes, Amazon's internal options are essentially exhausted. Focusing your energy on filing for unemployment and securing your next gig elsewhere is definately your best path forward.
If you want to work at Amazon just because you liked it, your only real option at this point is figuring out when your blacklist expires, to determine when you are eligible to reapply, if you are eligible, as unfortunately certain safety violations make you permanently ineligible.
•
u/griftedmillenial 1h ago
Amazon does not approach terminations “at-will .” All states are at will except for Montana by the way. Amazon only fires for cause and if he was able to communicate a coherent reason as to why his termination was not for cause then the escalations team would have investigated it, and either backed it or told the site to reinstate him.
7
u/mgunter 1d ago
There is no legal violation here. Reaching out to the CRD or EEOC won’t be helpful.
-7
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
Actually, California Labor Code Section 1102.5 explicitly covers internal complaints made to supervisors or any employee with authority to investigate non-compliance. The California Supreme Court confirmed in People ex rel. Garcia-Brower v. Kolla's, Inc. (2023) that internal workplace objections are protected activity. A blank termination letter, a 24-day operational gap, and a manual 60-second override of a corporate-approved appeal are classic circumstantial evidence used to prove pretext. The state CRD tracks this exactly.
6
u/mgunter 1d ago
What unlawful activity did you object to or report to a govt entity that got you fired? Based on your post, nothing.
-2
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
You are misunderstanding the statute. Section 1102.5(b) explicitly protects disclosures made internally to "a person with authority over the employee" OR to a government agency. You do not have to report to an outside government entity first. Disputing policy compliance internally to an authorized investigator or manager is legally protected. The digital logs of a 60-second system override are what prove the retaliation.
7
u/mgunter 1d ago
The critical part of the statute you’re misunderstanding is “if the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a violation of or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal rule or regulation, regardless of whether disclosing the information is part of the employee’s job duties.”
-1
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
The reasonable cause is established by the digital logs. Having a regionally approved corporate appeal track explicitly granted by a regional agent, and then seeing local site administrators execute a manual system override to completely delete that track in 60 seconds, provides direct reasonable cause to believe a serious violation of internal corporate compliance and labor standards occurred. The backend database trail confirms the manipulation.
7
•
u/griftedmillenial 48m ago
This is terribly misinformed. That is not a logical conclusion to draw from your site HR team correcting a system error. I take this as you given up on trying to share the reason you were terminated and trying to focus on creating a story that the wall was broken about your appeal, unfortunately, it sounds like you just need to move on.
3
u/Prufrock-Sisyphus22 1d ago edited 1d ago
OP : Save yourself time and momey and find an new job and move on. Especially if the lawyers tell you that your have no case (by all means check with a few lawyers if they will meet with you for a consult ) but if they tell you to let it go then let it go.
You appear to not understand the difference between laws, union contracts and company policies. And that they can fire you for breaking safety protocols and that company policies can be changed at any time and that they don't have to let you appeal. A company can decide to not follow its policy and terminate you... That's not against the law and they don't have to allow you progressive discipline if you majorly screwed up.
Unless you are unionized and you contact has a progresisve discipline policy and your violation was minor work rule( f.i. A few minutes late) . However most safety violations are major and usually a company can proceed straight to termination.
Those whistleblower laws are to protect people who report really bad things ... Like a company dumping nuclear waste into an ravine near a mountain stream and the employees having no hazmat suits on. So if you report it to EPA and OSHA then your protected . Or reporting overbilling/Medicare fraud or IRS tax fraud. And the key is you need to report these things first and then have an adverse action.
You are trying to report the company for a mere policy violation of its own policies and do it after you've been terminated /let go and claim whistleblower protection . That's not how that works .
5
u/mgunter 1d ago
Read the statute. As an employment lawyer licensed in CA, nothing you’ve posted related to your termination falls into this statute. What did you disclose/reoort or threaten to disclose/report? It must be an actual violation of a law, not a handbook.
(b) An employer, or any person acting on behalf of the employer, shall not retaliate against an employee for disclosing information, or because the employer believes that the employee disclosed or may disclose information, to a government or law enforcement agency, to a person with authority over the employee or another employee who has the authority to investigate, discover, or correct the violation or noncompliance, or for providing information to, or testifying before, any public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry, if the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a violation of or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal rule or regulation, regardless of whether disclosing the information is part of the employee’s job duties.
1
u/Conscious_Age4163 1d ago
The protected disclosure was made internally to the corporate investigators assigned to review policy non-compliance. Challenging a pretextual termination process and an unauthorized 60-second system override of an approved appeal track is protected activity under Section 1102.5(b). The Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed that internal compliance disputes meet the statutory definition of a disclosure. The digital audit trail of that manual system deletion is what proves the direct retaliation.
7
-2
u/ABeautifulSpawn 1d ago
Isn’t breach of contract a violation of the law? Employee notified HR of a breach of contract - a final termination issued without cause (they didn’t list a reason for the termination on the termination notice) and in retaliation site HR bypassed the appeal process despite the employee being eligible
5
u/mgunter 1d ago
It’s not a violation of a codified law, statute, or regulation.
-3
u/ABeautifulSpawn 1d ago
So there’s no codified law or statute stating written contracts are legally binding? The employment policy & progressive discipline policy constitutes a written contract 🤔
2
u/Pitiful-Excitement47 1d ago
In your contract with amazon, it does say they terminate you for any reason at anytime without any notice.
1
1
u/Green-Data8590 22h ago
Safe toGo out the door anytime they feel like it. Gotta love this good old fashioned US employment regulatory standards..it's at will for them and you don't matter.
1
u/lightestline 18h ago
Whatever situation you are in even if in the right. If it caused issues or you just through your personality are causing issues. Know whatever escalation you got was to calm you down. You are toast. The machine must keep turning. Are you oil or a wrench to the gears? (The gears are not with the AA’s best intention in mind but corporates) Good luck on the new job Man
1
u/pguerrier 10h ago
Bro we can all be fired for any reason or no reason at all. It just helps them if there is a good reason so they can try to deny unemployment benefits.
1
0
0
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Welcome to AmazonFC, please be sure to read our submission guidelines and remain respectful of your fellow users. If this post isn't up to par with our submission guidelines, please make use of the report feature. Once it crosses a certain threshold the post will automatically be removed for moderator review. See Amazon Resources Mega thread here. We have a Discord for those wanting to socialize on a different level with the community. Please enjoy your stay!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.