Amazon founder Jeff Bezos subjected housekeepers to “unsafe and unsanitary” conditions, barring them from rest breaks and easy access to bathrooms, according to a lawsuit filed in Seattle this week.
The civil action by Mercedes Wedaa also accused Bezos’ subordinates of racial discrimination against Hispanic houseworkers in favor of their white counterparts.
Bezos and two companies that allegedly manage his properties, Zefram LLC and Northwestern LLC, were named as defendants in the King County Superior Court lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
“Employers discriminated against Plaintiff because of her race, forced Plaintiff to work long hours without rest or meal breaks, exposed Plaintiff to unsafe and unsanitary work conditions, retaliated against and wrongfully terminated Plaintiff’s employment,” according to the lawsuit filed by Wedaa’s attorney Patrick McGuigan.
Wedaa was hired in fall 2019 for a housekeeping gig that required her “to work around a family without being seen,” the civil action said.
The plaintiff was hired as house coordinator and would eventually come to supervise a staff of housekeepers, which was nearly all Hispanic, according to the civil complaint.
In addition to extended work shifts that went as long as 14 hours with no breaks, there was “no reasonably accessible bathroom for the housekeepers,” the lawsuit said.
At one point housekeepers were allegedly told to use a restroom attached to a security room where guards monitored surveillance cameras on property. However, this was soon stopped “because it was decided that housekeepers using the bathroom was a breach of security protocol,” according to the civil action.
“For about 18 months, in order to use a bathroom, Plaintiff and other housekeepers were forced to climb out the laundry room window to the outside,” the lawsuit claimed. “Then, run along the path to the mechanical room, through the mechanical room and downstairs to a bathroom. This toilet was used by both men and women, for example grounds staff used it too.”
The lawsuit later claimed that housekeepers “frequently developed Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)” due to not having easy access to restrooms.
“We have investigated the claims, and they lack merit,” Bezos’ attorney Harry Korrell said in statement to NBC News on Thursday.
“Ms. Wedaa made over six figures annually and was the lead housekeeper. She was responsible for her own break and meal times, and there were several bathrooms and breakrooms available to her and other staff.”
Wedaa did not name a dollar amount she’s seeking in the lawsuit, though Korrell said the housekeeper asked for $9 million settlement in lieu of filing this lawsuit.
Wedaa accused Bezo’s house and assistant house managers treated the plaintiff and “the other Hispanic housekeepers who were hired differently from Caucasian employees,” the lawsuit alleged.
“They mocked and ridiculed” Wedaa but “did not treat the only white housekeeper” in such manner, according to the civil action.
“The evidence will show that Ms. Wedaa was terminated for performance reasons,” according to Korrell. “Given their backgrounds, the suggestion that Mr. Bezos, Ms. Sanchez, or Northwestern LLC discriminated against Ms. Wedaa based on her race or national origin is absurd.”
Bezos girlfriend Lauren Sanchez is Mexican American.
Bezos has a network of about $113 billion and is the world’s fourth richest man, according to Forbes magazine.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
