Amazon is investigating reports of toxic employee behavior in its cloud-computing unit

Amazon has opened an investigation into allegations regarding the culture of its cloud-computing unit after an internal petition slammed the retail giant for “an underlying culture of systemic discrimination, harassment, bullying, and bias against women and under-represented groups.”

The petition was signed by more than 550 employees and claims that Amazon’s processes to investigate discrimination claims are “not fair, objective or transparent.”

The petition alleges that the system is “set up to protect the company – rather than the employees filing the complaints”.

Employees say those who lodge complaints are often made vulnerable.

The eCommerce giant has hired an outside firm to investigate internal discrimination

Amazon also faces lawsuits from current and former employees alleging discrimination in the workplace.

The particular petition cites a lawsuit filed in May by Cindy Warner, a gay executive in Amazon Web Services professional services business, who accused a manager of making homophobic comments and alleged she was fired in retaliation. It also refers to a LinkedIn post last summer by Laudon Williams, a former employee of the group, who wrote that he left the company over concerns about gender and sexual orientation discrimination.