The only black people that I saw
every day were either opening
doors or cleaning floors.
Shannon, Kelly Ray noticed
it immediately at Amazon Black
Professionals in high level corporate
roles were few and far between.
She was one of the outliers.
In 2019, Amazon hired her
as a manager in diversity.
I felt that much more
a sense of urgency that I want to do.
Everything that I could or
new to do professionally.
To change the trajectory of access to
opportunity on Amazon's campus and
across Amazon's corporate infrastructure,
Amazon data shows that 26%
of its employees are black.
It sounds good, but most of
those employees are part of the
company's warehouse workforce.
Critics say Amazon's
highest paid employees are
white. An Mail as a woman
that happens to identify as
black or African American.
I was never as consciously
aware of feeling very.
Did attached are different
in the space as I was at the
Amazon's corporate campus
last year. Amazon committed millions
of dollars to social justice
organizations on their webpage.
They featured a Black Lives Matter banner,
but Shannon says those words
didn't align with company culture.
I had other leaders tell me that they
had more money to buy T shirts
than I had for my program.
What does that tell you about
the culture that tells you
that they are not very serious?
That that a business team or an
engineering team could have more
money for swag than a global
diversity inclusion leader could
have for their programming.
Shannon isn't alone.
This year, a national publication
interviewed more than a dozen current
and former Amazon employees who said the
company marginalizes people of color.
Chanin was one of the
employees interviewed by Vox.
She told them discrimination at Amazon
begins with the hiring process.
She said it is not uncommon for women.
And especially black women to have
a role advertised at one level,
but extended an offer at a
position that is lower.
Amazon's corporate hierarchy is made up
of levels at the top CEO Jeff Bezos.
The only level 12 at the bottom
level 4 employees who are often
straight out of college.
Chanet, who had 20 years of
experience in diversity and inclusion,
says she was qualified to come
on board somewhere in the middle
as a Level 7 employee.
Instead, she was hired at level 6.
People
continued to quizzically
as a why in the world are.
Are you at a Level 6? She
says two Amazon Vice President
Sander Recruiter eventually confirmed
that she had been down, leveled,
dropped to a lower paying job. My
hiring manager told me he said,
you know what? You are clearly a
level 7 in the strongest sense of
the word. The cost of down leveling,
losing out on promotions and compensation.
An Amazon spokesperson would
not discuss whether Shannon
was hired at the correct level,
but sent a statement saying we work
hard to make Amazon a company.
Where are black employees and people
of all backgrounds feel included.
Respected and want to grow their careers.
We do not tolerate discrimination or
harassment in any form since that article
was published. I've heard from hundreds
of people who have who are current
Amazonians who are former Amazonians
that experience the same thing.
I really do think there's a
systemic issue here. Charlotte
Newman is one of the current Amazon
employees who reached out to
Shannon after the Vox article.
There's a clear problem around race
and gender at the company
that needs to be addressed.
Newman says it was so bad she filed
a lawsuit against Amazon this year,
accusing them of a pattern of hiring
black employees at lower levels
than comparable white employees,
lessening their income and career prospects.
It was demoralizing to kind of do work
that I knew should have come with a higher
title and greater compensation. Amazon
declined to speak to the
allegations on camera,
but a spokesperson told KING5
Charlotte Newman was properly placed.
In her role at the company,
Newman says the discrimination
went beyond promotion or pay.
Her lawsuit details a
business trip with coworkers,
during which she tried on a black
jacket and a colleague told her quote,
Oh my God, you look like a gorilla.
The lawsuit says on multiple occasions,
Newman's boss at Amazon,
Steve Block criticized her
for speaking out in meetings,
calling her two direct,
aggressive and just
scary by instantly recognize
the language to be coded
and stereotypical it just.
Really kind of robbed me
of my humanity in some
ways. The lawsuit says Amazon's
management's dismissive attitude
toward black and female employees
like Miss Newman left her
vulnerable to ****** harassment
and assault by a senior coworker.
Newman says that senior coworker
a manager named Undress Mas
harassed her repeatedly,
including once at a
corporate dinner.
He reached under the table and
started to grow my leg and.
I froze and used kind of the
need to go to the bathroom.
Is it excuse to kind of
get up from the table?
Came back sat on the
other side of the table.
He begged me to go
home and sleep with him in a statement.
An Amazon spokesperson said we
immediately investigated Miss
Newman's ****** harassment claim.
An fired her harasser.
We are currently investigating the new
allegations included in the lawsuit.
I believe that Amazon
could do so much more to protect
its employees so that no one else
has to experience. But I have.
Shannon Kelly Ray says change at
Amazon must begin at the top with
Jeff Bezos, his senior leadership
team known as the Esteen. They
don't have someone who is familiar
with the discipline of diversity
management on the S team.
In 2019, Amazon hired Alicia Boler Davis,
the first black woman,
to join the S team in the
company's 26 year history.
Channel says that's not enough.
She's now running her own
diversity and inclusion firm.
After leaving Amazon last year, there
is a culture of fear. Of speaking up
or pushing too hard or being too loud,
and that has to that has to change.