Amazon.com Faces Reversal in Covid-Era Illinois Worker Pay Case

Amazon.com faced tough questioning Wednesday from federal appellate judges who appeared ready to overturn a lower court ruling and force the online retailer to pay its employees for the time it took to undergo Covid-19 tests.

Amazon.com Services LLC lawyer Michael Kenneally had barely begun his arguments when Judge Nancy Maldonado of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit interrupted him to ask if any circuit precedent existed to support his arguments. She then said she doubted his premise that Illinois employment laws must defer to two federal statutes, the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Portal-to-Portal Act. …