Amazon to begin locking out some laid-off employees on Wednesday

Laid-off Amazon workers in the company's devices division, which is responsible for the Alexa virtual assistant, have been told they'll be locked out of the offices starting Wednesday. — Dreamstime/TNS

Amazon is locking some laid-off employees out of its offices and their company-issued laptops on Wednesday, about a week after the company started notifying workers that their positions were being cut.

Amazon told laid-off employees from the division that works on the Alexa virtual assistant to collect their belongings, pack up company-issued laptops and prototypes, and download Amazon's email and messaging service on their personal devices by 5 pm Wednesday, according to an email viewed by The Seattle Times.