An Amazon driver said she nearly lost her house and had her car repossessed with her kids' Christmas presents inside after an algorithm suddenly fired her

• An Amazon delivery driver in Texas said she was suddenly fired because of tracking algorithms.
• The 42-year-old said her car, containing donated Christmas presents for her kids, was repossessed.
• "I almost lost my house," Neddra Lira told Bloomberg.

After three years of working for Amazon's contractor delivery service, Amazon Flex, 42-year-old Neddra Lira said she was suddenly fired last October.

As a result, Lira said, her car was repossessed and she stopped paying her mortgage. When the car was repossessed, it had donated Christmas presents inside for her three children, Lira told Bloomberg.

"I nearly lost my house," she said. Lira's other job, as a school bus driver, was on hiatus in October as schools were still mostly remote and pandemic lockdowns were in place.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Amazon's Flex program is a contractor position where drivers use their own vehicles. Delivery routes are chosen through a corresponding app - such as Uber or Lyft, but for Amazon package delivery.

Just before her firing, Lira was assessed by Amazon's Flex app as being in "great" standing as an employee, screenshots obtained by Bloomberg showed - part of the algorithmic tracking of Amazon's contracted delivery drivers.

Then, on October 2, Lira said she received an email saying she'd violated the service's terms and was "no longer eligible to participate in the Amazon Flex program."

After weeks of emails and appeals, Lira's case was reviewed and denied by a string of emails from employees she'd never met, she said.

It's not clear what caused Lira's firing in the first place, but Amazon Flex drivers speaking with Bloomberg described tracking issues with Amazon's algorithms: the inability to account for a long line of Flex drivers outside the delivery station, for instance, or issues with car maintenance and repair that can cause delivery delays.

Amazon representatives didn't respond to a request for comment.

Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@insider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a nonwork device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.