Amazon now hiring hundreds more in Robbinsville, NJ

Amazon.com is expanding the permanent workforce at its new central New Jersey distribution center.  The online retail giant opened its Robbinsville order fulfillment center last July, bringing 1,500 workers on board. Now the company is adding 800 more employees to the permanent payroll.

Amazon’s Kelly Cheeseman says the company is hiring right now for the facility about 10 miles from Trenton.

“These are full-time positions that pick, pack and ship customer orders. They start with full benefits at day one, including bonuses, health benefits, company stock awards,”  she said.

Cheeseman also says the starting salary varies by job, but a typical wage is $12.75 an hour with optional overtime.

But the iconic smile printed on the company’s boxes sometimes hasn’t reflected how the employees filling them felt. In  2011, The Occupational Health and Safety Administration received numerous complaints about work conditions at Amazon’s Lehigh Valley fulfillment center — such as third floor room temperatures reaching 114 degrees.

Joanna Hawkins is a spokeswoman for OSHA’s Philadelphia office. She says in an email her office has received only one complaint about Amazon since then, in November, about noise levels in the Robbinsville facility. Hawkins says the issue was promptly resolved.