Investors Probe Companies on Covid-19 Transition Plans

Investors are pushing companies to address things like hazard pay and whether temporary policies and practices related to employees need to stay in place as businesses transition out of the depth of the pandemic.

Yesterday, New York City comptroller Scott Stringer sent a letter to the Amazon board’s leadership development and compensation committee asking chair Judith McGrath to address at its upcoming annual meeting scheduled for May 27 “media reports regarding widespread Covid-19 health and safety concerns among Amazon employees, including reports that the company has retaliated against some employees and is pressuring sick employees to come to work.”

“While Amazon management has announced numerous initiatives to keep their employees safe, the onus is on the independent members of the Amazon Board of Directors to report on how they are overseeing the progress of these initiatives and to ensure that these investments produce outcomes beneficial for both employees and shareowners,” the letter states. It asks the board to report to investors on the impacts and outcomes of the steps the company says it has taken to protect employees, including volume trends in Coronavirus cases among employees, days lost due to Covid-related illnesses and complaints filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The letter also asks for the frequency of committee meetings during the pandemic, noting that it has only met three times per year each year for the past five years. Other boards are likely to see similar versions of this letter from investors, if they haven’t already.