Amazon employee laid off immediately after getting maternity leave, says it's no coincidence

Amazon is firing 16,000 employees, with impacted staff already receiving notification emails. One affected employee has now shared her ordeal on social media, saying she was laid off just days before her approved maternity leave was due to begin. And she claims that the layoff doesn't look like a coincidence.

Amazon has begun sending layoff emails to employees as part of its latest round of job cuts. The current round of layoffs is impacting around 16,000 employees globally, with corporate roles bearing the brunt of the cuts. As employees receive the notices, some have begun sharing their experiences online. One such account comes from an employee who said she was laid off just days before her approved maternity leave was set to begin.

The ex-Amazon employee shared her experience anonymously on Blind, a social media site where verified employees can talk anonymously, revealing that her maternity leave had been fully approved, documented and scheduled to start the following week.

According to her post, a case manager had already been assigned and all paperwork completed, yet she still received the standard layoff email informing her that her role was being eliminated just days before her leave. “I got laid off today. My mat leave was supposed to start next week. Fully approved. Case manager assigned, dates locked, everything documented,” she wrote. “Still got the same cold layoff email like none of that mattered. I am due in two weeks. I am tired, big, stressed, emotional, and now this. I feel so helpless.”

The impacted employee also notes that she is not the only one impacted after taking medical leaves. “There are posts and comments on Amazon channels about people on FMLA, maternity, paternity and medical leave getting hit too — across different states and teams,” she added.

It is important to note that Amazon has not publicly commented on or specified why specific employees have been laid off. It has only issued a general statement. Whether maternity leave, or other leaves, were a factor in layoffs is just a speculation at the moment from the impacted employee.

Earlier on January 28, Amazon confirmed that it was slashing around 16,000 jobs globally, marking its second major round of layoffs in just three months. The company had already reduced its workforce by roughly 14,000 roles over the past few months, taking the total number of recent job cuts to around 30,000.