Workers who monogrammed pricey suitcases for the trendy luggage startup Away were forced to toil in an unventilated room that was filled with toxic paint fumes, according to a Tuesday report.
Employees at Away’s Brooklyn office — where the company moved in July — suffered from “headaches and nausea,” and were given gas masks instead of a new ventilation system, according to the report.
By November, when many were complaining about “persistent headaches, itchy eyes and hacking coughs,” they couldn’t open the windows because of the lack of heating and cold temperatures outside, the report said, citing anonymous sources.
Away’s solution, according to the report, was giving the artists “desk fans and fingerless gloves.”
“Everyone started to get sick,” one anonymous employee told The Verge.
Later that month, the frustrated workers reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to report the conditions, telling The Verge they were motivated by “an overlying feeling of helplessness, like no one was advocating for us and our safety or well being.”
OSHA inspectors, meanwhile, did not find dangerous levels of chemicals.
Last week, Away CEO Steph Korey stepped down amid criticism of the ruthless internal culture at her luggage startup, where she allegedly berated underlings in public Slack chatrooms. Former Away employees said at the time that they faced pressure to work grueling hours and limitations on their paid time off.
But according to the new report, the culture Korey fostered was the least of Away’s monograming team’s problems.
“Our problems are less about the toxic social environment and more about the actual toxic environment,” an employee said.
The monogramming team claims that their work room still does not have adequate ventilation, according to the report, and two members resigned recently due to health concerns.
A company spokesperson called The Verge’s report “fundamentally false and misleading.”
“Away will be providing a detailed list of these errors, which appear to be willful and malicious, and is evaluating litigation options,” the spokesperson told The Post.
