A former housekeeper for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has stated she and different workers suffered unsafe working situations that included being pressured to climb out of a laundry room window to get to a rest room each time the Bezos household was at house.
In a lawsuit filed in King County Superior Courtroom in Seattle, Mercedes Wedaa, a long-time housekeeper for rich residents within the Seattle space together with the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, claims she was discriminated and retaliated towards when she complained a couple of lack of relaxation breaks or an space the place workers might eat.
Harry Korrell, a lawyer for Mr Bezos, referred to as the claims absurd and stated Ms Wedaa filed the lawsuit towards Mr Bezos and two corporations that handle his properties and private investments, Zefram and Northwestern, solely after her demand for a 9 million greenback (£8 million) payout was rejected.
“Ms Wedaa remodeled six figures yearly and was the lead housekeeper,” Mr Korrell stated in an emailed assertion.
“She was chargeable for her personal break and meal instances, and there have been a number of loos and breakrooms out there to her and different workers. The proof will present that Ms Wedaa was terminated for efficiency causes.”
In keeping with the lawsuit, Zefram employed Ms Wedaa in September 2019 as “home co-ordinator” and he or she was initially the one housekeeper on workers, although contract workers have been introduced in sometimes.
One other housekeeper was added a couple of yr later, and by late final yr Ms Wedaa was the lead housekeeper, supervising a handful of others.
Ms Wedaa contends within the lawsuit that she generally labored as much as 14 hours a day however was by no means informed she was entitled to relaxation breaks.
She additionally says there was no room designated for the housekeepers to relaxation in and that they generally ate meals in a laundry room.
When the Bezos household was house, the housekeepers have been allowed to enter the home solely to carry out cleansing features.
In keeping with the grievance, that created conditions by which housekeepers couldn’t exit the laundry room as a result of its solely door led into the residence.
As a substitute of going out of that door, housekeepers for a interval of 18 months would generally should climb out of the laundry room window on to a path that led to a mechanical room, enter by means of the mechanical room, and go downstairs to a rest room, the grievance stated.
“As a result of there was no readily accessible toilet, plaintiff and different housekeepers spend giant components of their day unable to make use of the bathroom though they wanted to,” the grievance says.
“On account of this, the housekeepers ceaselessly developed urinary tract infections.”
It isn’t clear within the grievance how the housekeepers entered the laundry room to start with, how lengthy they have been anticipated to stay in there if the household was house or whether or not they might use a rest room once they entered the home to carry out cleansing duties.
Ms Wedaa’s Seattle-based lawyer Patrick Leo McGuigin stated he didn’t have additional particulars at this early stage of the lawsuit.
“I didn’t query my shopper advert nauseum,” he stated.
“She needed to climb out a window. That’s the important thing reality. … I can’t clarify each circumstance and every bit of proof there’s. There’s quite a lot of discovery to happen.”
Ms Wedaa “has labored exhausting all her life, she is a really credible particular person and compelling proof helps her claims”, he stated.
In keeping with the grievance, Ms Wedaa, who’s Hispanic, reported to deal with managers who have been white.
She stated she complained about undocumented employees being introduced in on a contract foundation, a scarcity of relaxation breaks and unsafe working situations.
She additionally complained that an assistant home supervisor handled the Hispanic housekeepers in another way from white workers on the property and retaliated towards her by demoting her and putting in a white housekeeper because the lead housekeeper.
Although Ms Wedaa was by no means disciplined over her job efficiency, she was ultimately sacked over the complaints, the lawsuit says.
“Defendants cited the ridiculously concocted purpose that she appeared ‘sad’ and that this was having a destructive impact on the housekeeping staff,” it states.
The lawsuit towards Mr Bezos, who is without doubt one of the world’s wealthiest folks, seeks damages in an quantity to be decided at trial.
