Amazon Extends Work-From-Home For Corporate Employees Through June Next Year

Amazon.com, Inc AMZN will allow its corporate workforce to continue working from home through June 2021, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. 

What Happened: The Jeff Bezos-led company earlier planned to let its employees work from home until early 2021 but is having to change course due to uncertainty surrounding school reopenings and closures forced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

An Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg that it would follow local government guidance and said that the employees "who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so."

The Seattle-based e-commerce retailer has invested “significant funds and resources” for those who intend to come to [the] office, the spokesperson added. 

Why It Matters: Amazon has been under fire over the treatment of its warehouse and delivery workers during the pandemic. A warehouse worker alleged in May that hundreds of people contracted coronavirus and six died due to the disease.

The e-commerce giant earlier this month disclosed 19,816 employees — about 1.44% of its U.S. workforce — had contracted COVID-19.

Bezos earlier advocated a return to the office, saying in a note to employees, “much of the essential work we do cannot be done from home.”

Apple Inc AAPL and Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG are letting its employees work from home through the summer of 2021. Twitter Inc TWTR and Facebook Inc FB have said the employees can work from home for as long as they want.

In August, Amazon made a move to expand office space in six cities in the United States as it sought to bring workers back to their desks, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. 

The Mark Zuckerberg-led social network has also taken advantage of the pandemic to expand office space in Seattle and New York.

Price Action: Amazon shares closed nearly 0.3% higher at $3,217.01 on Tuesday and gained 0.22% in the after-hours session.