It's not just the employees interviewed by the Times. I've read roughly 100 comments (across this and several related HN articles) from ex-Amazon employees who confirmed that their experiences at Amazon were similar to what was described in the Times article. And maybe 100 comments from people who wrote that they would never work at Amazon based on what friends they knew at Amazon have gone through. At some point, the evidence begins to build up. I think it's pretty unlikely that there's a vast conspiracy of former Amazon employees and their friends who want to spread nasty lies about Amazon.