Among Mercedes Wedaa's complaints is that on some occasions she had to leave a laundry room to access a bathroom.
A former housekeeper of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says she and other employees were forced to work in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including having to step out of a laundry window to access the bathroom. Mercedes Wedaa is suing Bezos and two companies allegedly managing her properties in a lawsuit filed in Seattle this week.
She was hired in 2019 for a cleaning position that required her to "work with an out of sight family," according to the complaint. Some of her shifts lasted up to 14 hours without interruption, during which "there was no reasonably accessible bathroom for housewives," says the suit.
When the Bezos family were at home, the housekeepers could only enter the house to clean, which meant they could not use the laundry door to access the bathroom directly, as it only led into the residence. Instead, they sometimes had to climb out the laundry room window onto a path that led to an engine room and downstairs to a bathroom, a situation that has been going on for about 18 months, Ms. Wedaa says.
The complaint alleged that due to the lack of easily accessible bathrooms, she and other housewives spent much of the day unable to use the bathroom, causing frequent urinary tract infections. Among Ms. Wedaa's other statements were:
• There was no place for housewives to rest
• Housewives sometimes ate in a laundromat
• Hispanic employees faced discrimination based on their race
• Complained to bosses about hiring undocumented workers, lack of breaks and unsafe working conditions.
• Following her complaints, she was demoted, even though she was never sanctioned for her work performance
• She was unfairly fired, she was told that she looked 'unhappy' and that this was having a negative effect on the team.
Ms Wedaa seeks compensation for damages in an amount to be decided in court.
Bezos' lawyer, Harry Korrell, said Wedaa's claims were absurd, adding that she only filed the lawsuit after her $ 9 million (£ 8 million) payment request was denied. =
"She was in charge of her own breaks and meals, and there were several restrooms and break rooms available for her and the rest of the staff. "The evidence will show that Ms. Wedaa was fired for performance reasons."
Ms. Wedaa's attorney, Patrick McGuigan, said her client "has worked hard all her life, she is a very credible person and compelling evidence supports her claims."