Amazon has stopped all its deliveries in France. The move follows a French court ruling that Amazon faced a fine of $1 million a day if it failed to adequately protect workers against the virus.

Amazon said the threatened fine was too too big for it to take the risk of being judged to have failed to provide adequate protection.

“We have suspended activities in our distribution centers in France, despite the huge investment we have made to ensure and strengthen safety measures for our employees,” said Amazon.

Amazon said that the court ruling “is likely to have consequences for many people in our country,” citing 10,000 employees, Amazon customers and French businesses that make sales on Amazon’s platform.

Amazon has asked employees to stay home this week, and said that it would assess the implications for its French operations.

The union rep  said that some Amazon workers were worried that the court ruling could lead to job losses, adding that at least a quarter of the 10,000 people employed at Amazon’s six warehouses in France desperately need the work.

In March, hundreds of Amazon employees walked out, protected by a French labour rule that allows workers to withdraw from work without having their pay docked if they deem health safety risks to be too high.

France has been more aggressive than any other country towards US tech companies – fining them and trying to tax and regulate them. Amazon is the first company to withdraw from doing business in France altogether. Others may follow and the reaction of the French people will decide the issue.