‘I was forced to climb out a laundry room window to use bathroom’ – Ex housekeeper is suing Jeff Bezos. She and other housekeepers allegedly spent a large portion of their day unable to use the restroom due to the absence of easily accessible toilets.
It is not just Amazon warehouse workers who have to find inventive ways to use the restroom.
A former housekeeper for Jeff Bezos filed a lawsuit against him and two property management firms, claiming that she and other staff members were forced to work in risky and unhygienic conditions, including having to climb out a laundry room window to use the restroom.
Mercedes Wedaa, a 2019 recruit, claims her position required her to “work around a family without being seen,” where she claimed she completed shifts as long as 14 hours without breaks, and where there was “no reasonably accessible bathroom for the housekeepers.”
When the Bezos family was at home, the housekeepers were only allowed to enter the house to clean, meaning they could not use the laundry door to access a bathroom directly, as it led only to the residence.
–Sky News
Instead, they would sometimes have to climb out of the laundry room window onto a path that led to a mechanical room and downstairs to a bathroom, a situation that was in place for around 18 months, Ms Wedaa claims.
She and other housekeepers allegedly spent a large portion of their day unable to use the restroom due to the absence of easily accessible toilets, which led to numerous urinary tract infections.
Wedaa makes more assertions, such as:
- There is nowhere for housekeepers to rest.
- Meals had to be consumed by housekeepers in the laundry room.
- Hispanic workers experienced racism-based discrimination.
- Contractual undocumented employees were brought in.
- Inadequate rest breaks and hazardous working conditions.
- Weda believes she was demoted and fired because of complaints, despite never being reprimanded for poor performance.
She filed the lawsuit after Bezos turned down a $9 million demand, according to Harry Korrell, an attorney for Bezos, who called the charges ‘absurd.’
“Ms Wedaa made over six figures annually and was the lead housekeeper,” he said. “She was responsible for her own break and meal times, and there were several bathrooms and breakrooms available to her and other staff.”
“The evidence will show that Ms Wedaa was terminated for performance reasons.”
Wedaa has “worked hard all her life, she is a very credible person and compelling evidence supports her claims,” according to her attorney, Patrick McGuigan.
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