Three Amazon software engineers who testified before the Seattle City Council in favor of the data center moratorium filed a civil rights complaint with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights the week of June 16, alleging the company retaliated against them for exercising their political speech.

Patrick Schloesser, Darius Irani, and Liesl Wigand testified Wednesday, June 3, before the Land Use and Sustainability Committee in support of Council Bill 121214 (the emergency moratorium on large data center permits). All three identified themselves as members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. They did not claim to speak on behalf of Amazon.

The council voted 9-0 on Tuesday, June 9, to pass the moratorium. Both Councilmember Dan Strauss (D6), who serves as vice-chair of the Land Use committee, and Councilmember Robert Kettle (D7) voted yes.

On Wednesday, June 10, Amazon separately called each employee into impromptu Zoom meetings with an Employee Relations representative. The HR staffer told each that the company was investigating their testimony and that the probe could lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination, according to the complaint.

Schloesser, a six-year Amazon employee, received the call less than 30 minutes before he was scheduled to give an internal presentation to dozens of colleagues.

Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said the company determined the employees "may have been speaking in their capacity as Amazonians and not as private citizens." She said Amazon "may or may not take action based on what we find" and does not tolerate retaliatory behavior.

Amazon disputes that it threatened to fire the employees, saying the reference to termination came up in response to a direct question and was taken out of context.

Schloesser told The Verge: "I am unwilling to accept a reality in which Amazon or any corporation can silence me in exercising my rights. We're not going to step back in line."

The complaint also alleges Amazon monitored employees' political advocacy before the council and sought to identify others who engaged in political activities, according to CNBC.

The filing invokes Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 14.04 (the Fair Employment Practices ordinance), which has prohibited employment discrimination based on political ideology since 1973. Attorney Abby Lawlor of Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt, who represents the three employees, said Seattle is one of few jurisdictions in the country that bars private employers from discriminating based on political beliefs.

The complaint raises an open question for D6 and D7 residents whose neighbors testified before the council: whether the city's civil rights apparatus will protect people who participate in council proceedings from employer retaliation. Neither Strauss nor Kettle has commented on the complaint.

However Seattle residents are discussing the news online.

"Honestly more shocked how pretty Amazon gets with these things," one person said on Reddit.

"Employees cannot be discriminated based on politics only that doesn't mean Amazon doesn't target people with politics they don't like," another Reddit user said.

"In my experience in tech, the techbros are actually not the engineers," another person commented.

The Seattle Office for Civil Rights has not publicly responded. No case number or docket number is available. Under SMC 14.04.185, the employees also retain the right to file a private civil action in Superior Court within three years.

Amazon has a history of conflict with AECJ. Two founders of the group were fired in 2020 for what Amazon called "repeatedly violating internal policies." Amazon settled with those employees in 2021 after they filed a complaint with federal labor regulators.

No hearing date or response deadline for the SOCR complaint has been announced. The moratorium itself requires a public hearing within 60 days of its June 9 adoption. Resolution 32204, sponsored by Councilmember Debora Juarez (D5), directs city departments to deliver reports on data center impacts by January 2027.