Amazon refused to give pregnant workers bathroom breaks

(arstechnica.com)

109 points | by worik 2 hours ago ago

12 comments

  • Aurornis 24 minutes ago

    I skimmed the lawsuit. As far as I can tell, the complaint is about getting 4 x 15 minute extra breaks during the day and lighter work. Amazon did grant them, but the complaint is that they didn't do it fast enough. There's also something of a disagreement where she expected to be paid for the extra hour of break time every day, but Amazon was counting it as unpaid. She was reassigned to lighter work at her request, but the complaint is that she still had to lift heavy things and they didn't give her a job where she could sit down.

    The word "bathroom" shows up a lot but that doesn't appear core to the lawsuit. I think an editor was engineering the headline for maximum clickbait to link back to the previous Amazon bathroom break stories.

    Regardless of what you think about Amazon, this reporting could use a little less clickbait and little more details from the actual lawsuit.

  • stuaxo 20 minutes ago

    It didn't take long for people to appear in here to say it's not too bad.

  • distortionfield 35 minutes ago

    This is the company that literally hired the Pinkertons and has been repeatedly fined millions for labor related violations, up to and including union busting. Consider me not even an iota of surprised.

  • bastard_op 36 minutes ago

    At this point is anyone surprised at what Amazon will do to the plebeian workers that fuel them?

  • hereme888 18 minutes ago

    Adults need permission to use a restroom?!

  • Yizahi 20 minutes ago

    Meanwhile St. Bezos loudly complains that people are unfairly presenting billionaires as villains :)

  • AndrewDucker an hour ago

    The idea that non-pregnant people shouldn't also get to use the toilet seems baffling to me.

    Maybe just let people use it when they need it.

  • ajuc 24 minutes ago

    In any poor Eastern European country they would go for months-long paid leave long before the birth and then for months-long paid maternity leave.

    If they decided to work during pregnancy they would get preferential treatment.

    How are Americans not revolting against this bullshit is beyond me. The problem isn't even Amazon - it's the system that makes Amazon doing this shit even a possibility.

  • josefritzishere a minute ago

    [dead]

  • temporary_red 8 minutes ago

    [flagged]

  • gblargg 21 minutes ago

    [flagged]

  • black6 21 minutes ago

    It amuses me when adults need permission to perform basic human needs because a small group will always take advantage of common courtesy and ruin it for everyone else.

    When I was in grade school I pissed my pants in the library because the librarian wouldn't let me go to the bathroom. We both learned a lesson that day. I learned to seek forgiveness over permission, and she learned that sometimes kids aren't bullshitting when they say they need to use the bathroom.

    We are all at the mercy of the bottom quintile.