Former Amazon worker speaks out after workplace shooting

WEST JEFFERSON, Ohio (WCMH) - A nearly tragic workplace shooting at Amazon Fulfillment Building CMH5 on May 12 raised safety concerns for many employees.

A second incident involving a gun happened just days later right outside Amazon in West Jefferson. Amazon maintains the second incident did not take place on Amazon property, but the public road outside of the property. 

Regardless, a police report from West Jefferson Police said a contracted worker on Amazon property retrieved a gun from his personal vehicle prior to an altercation with a truck driver who had dropped off a load at Amazon.

Both of these incidents received numerous posted concerns by employees to their company message board called 'MyVoice.' One of the employees who made posts concerning workplace safety was Breyonn Dockery. She had only worked at the building where the shooting happened for about a month.

"I was scheduled to work that day, but I was able to get the day off," she said. 

But the shooting had an impact on everyone. She went to the message board to ask, "What are you all going to do to make sure this doesn't happen again? Because our safety matters too."

Dockery was then suspended several days after making that initial post. She was called into the HR office for a twenty-minute conversation with an HR representative and a member of Employee Relations. 

During that meeting, Dockery was asked about her concerns, talked about the company's health resources, and asked for suggestions. At one moment about 15 minutes into the meeting, Dockery pulled out hand soap from her purse or bag and said, "If this was a gun, like, how would you guys prevent me from bringing it in here?"

Immediately following, she suggested more safety protocols to prevent someone from bringing a gun into the building so easily, using that hand soap as an example for an item that can be brought into work without being checked. The building does have metal detectors, but those are stationed at the exit.

"When they take more measures to protect their assets than they do to protect their employees, I kind of feel like that speaks for itself," she explained.

After that meeting with HR, Dockery was called by a Loss Prevention investigator with Amazon and another HR representative.

"I felt like I was a target just for speaking up about safety concerns," she said.

An hour after that call, Dockery was told not to come back to work, but that she would still be paid. 

Amazon representative Steve Kelly said in a written statement that "Per standard protocol and procedures, an employee was suspended with pay following an alleged altercation with a manager. That investigation is ongoing."

"I'm not with Amazon anymore. No. Yeah, I quit the next day," said Dockery. 

When she asked why she was being suspended, she said she was told it was "confidential." Dockery then posted a message to 'MyVoice' for her co-workers to see. That message was then deleted by app administrators.

Kelly with Amazon sent a statement regarding the safety measures at the facility.

“The safety of our employees is always our top priority. Based on guidance from law enforcement and safety and security experts we take a comprehensive approach to workplace violence prevention with a variety of security controls in place and regularly undertake to improve security policies and procedures at our facilities. Following the incident at our West Jefferson Sort Center, facility leaders have proactively and repeatedly reached out to employees to see how they are doing, offering support, and soliciting feedback.”

In addition, Kelly provided written explanations for company policy on messages shared via 'MyVoice' and why certain messages are deleted or hidden from view. 

"Comments through internal communications mechanisms are offensive, vulgar, or contain personal attacks," he wrote.

Amazon also had police security on the premises following the shooting for "several days," according to Kelly.

Even though Dockery no longer works at Amazon, she is worried about her former co-workers that don't feel safe. 

"I don't feel like they care. I feel like they want us to think that they do. But actions speak louder than words, and I didn't see any actions that showed that they cared about our safety," she said.

Dockery has found a new job and when asked what she thinks would help the situation at Amazon, she said, "Acknowledging, you know, that the situation happened instead of just trying to cover it up, trying to, you know, manage the narrative and all acknowledge that happened, acknowledge our feelings and tell us what they're going to do to prevent stuff like that from happening again."

Kelly also wrote, "Employees are encouraged to bring their concerns, questions, and ideas to facility leaders and free to communicate about their personal experiences at Amazon with the media."