Family sues Amazon for $6.5 mn after IT manager dies of heart attack brought on by debt after his disability payments were cut off
A devastated family has accused Amazon of driving a $150,000-a-year HR executive to an early grave and is now suing the e-commerce giant for $6.5mn over his death. IT Manager Ronald Ashley died in late 2016 of a heart attack after his employers allegedly cut off his disability payments, resulting in the lawsuit, Daily Mail reports.
However, the Ashley family was hit with tragedy once again when Ronald's older brother also died of a heart attack the following year. According to the embattled family, it was brought on by grief over his brother's demise. They claimed that Amazon's exponential growth has caused its management to gloss over its workers' grievances and said that the company is now a "bureaucratic mess."
In a conversation with Daily Mail, Ronald's younger brother, Dwayne Ashley, said that had it not been for Amazon's ignorant actions, his brother would still be alive today. "I'm furious. He needed this disability pay when he was living, and now he's dead. This has been so hurtful to me and my family," he said. "It's so disrespectful that the company would treat him like that."