Amazon extends work from home policy for corporate employees until 2021

Amazon.com Inc. is letting most corporate employees work from home until January and will continue restricting business travel, echoing growing fears that the pandemic will linger until at least next year.

“We continue to prioritize the health of our employees and follow local government guidance,” the company said in a statement. “Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until January 8.”

Amazon had previously said corporate staff could work remotely until early October.

Employees at the company’s warehouses have no such luxury because they’re considered essential workers required to fulfill online orders as many Americans continue to hunker down at home.

Earlier this year, Amazon began paying these workers an extra $2 an hour and let them take leave with no questions asked. The company subsequently revoked those perks and now requires warehouse workers to formally apply for leave, a process some employees say has been plagued by confusion and delays.

Some employees at a warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee, fault Amazon for ending the no-questions-asked leave and resent the fact that other employees can work from home. They say their Memphis colleagues are getting sick with Covid-19 as the pandemic rages in southern U.S. states.