Amazon investigates three engineers after Seattle AI data center testimony

Amazon investigates – Amazon is investigating three employees tied to statements made during Seattle city council hearings on a pause for AI data center buildouts. The Engineers involved are backed by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, which filed a civil rights complaint claimi

For weeks, the Seattle city council hearings had felt like pressure building in real time: engineers and advocates urging the city to slow down AI data center expansion and tie future growth to renewable energy and labor protections.

Now, three Amazon engineers who took part in that push say the company is turning the spotlight on them.

Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) previously testified at Seattle city council meetings about AI data centers. After those hearings. AECJ filed a civil rights complaint on behalf of three engineers. saying Amazon is violating a Seattle law that prohibits companies from discriminating against employees based on political ideology. race. religion. and age.

The engineers’ testimony focused on whether Seattle should pause AI data center buildouts. They reportedly urged the city council to add renewable energy requirements and labor protections to the city’s regulations. They also called for the government to stop the industry’s plans to “build out as much compute capacity as they can. as fast as they can. before regulations can catch up.”.

Seattle’s city council later voted in favor of passing a year-long moratorium on AI data centers.

In the complaint, the engineers say Amazon called them in separately for a meeting with HR after the hearings. They allege they were told they were under investigation because of their testimony, and that the probe could result in disciplinary action and even termination.

Amazon disputes that framing. GeekWire reports that Amazon denied telling the engineers they were at risk of being terminated for speaking at the hearings. In a statement. company spokesperson Margaret Callahan said Amazon reviewed the engineers’ testimonies and concluded that they “may have been speaking in their capacity as Amazonians and not as private citizens.”.

Callahan said the company is looking into whether there truly was a violation, noting that Amazon does not allow employees to speak as its representatives without following certain procedures. She also added: “It’s important to note that we don’t tolerate retaliatory behavior.”

The dispute lands on a sensitive backdrop for the workers involved. Amazon fired Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa—two of AECJ’s original organizers—in 2020 after criticisms of the company’s climate and labor practices. Cunningham and Costa sued Amazon over illegal termination. Amazon settled with them in 2021 and agreed to pay their back wages. while also posting a notice to all workers stating it can’t fire them “for organizing and exercising their rights.”.

The city’s year-long moratorium on AI data centers is now in place, but for the engineers who testified, the fight may be moving from Seattle’s chambers back into corporate HR rooms—this time, with the company and the workers describing the same moment in sharply different ways.

Amazon AI data centers Seattle city council moratorium Amazon Employees for Climate Justice AECJ civil rights complaint workplace investigation HR meeting labor protections renewable energy requirements compute capacity retaliation