The world’s richest man Jeff Bezos has come under fire after his company Amazon started soliciting for donations to pay for their employee’s sick leave in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund was started with an initial donation of $25 million from Amazon, and while the company has pledged to continue contributing as needed, they have opened the door for donations through the Emergency Assistance Foundation.
On the fund’s website, Amazon wrote: “While we aren’t expecting anyone to do so, you can make a voluntary donation to the fund if you desire to do so.”
However, according to The Independent, the company was originally more forthright in asking people to donate, changing the wording following a backlash.
An Amazon spokesperson refuted the claims, saying that they “have not asked for donations.”
It has been reported that Amazon’s US contractors, who deliver packages for the company, are not eligible for sick leave, but would rather have to apply to the Amazon Relief Fund should they need to miss work after testing positive to coronavirus.
However, with Bezos worth an estimated US$114 billion and his company reportedly worth over US$1 trillion, it’s fair to say that a few people are a bit miffed at the situation.
How is your company worth over a TRILLION dollars and you want the public to donate to an employee relief fund?! As if Amazon can’t pay their employees themselves smfh
— Bean$z (@Beanszzz) March 21, 2020
Amazon has a relief fund for their workers…
AMAZON
The one whose founder is Jeff Bezos?
The man whose net worth is $110 BILLION.
Does anyone ANYONE else see the irony in this??
— Faizah (@_FaizahKarim) March 21, 2020
Meanwhile, because it’s so hard to imagine exactly what $114 billion in net worth looks like, TikTok user @humphreytalks has demonstrated what that kind of money looks like…using grains of rice.
