Ex-Amazon employee claims she was fired for taking too many bathroom breaks – Times of India

There have been multiple reports highlighting Amazon being a ‘tough’ employer especially for those who work in the company’s warehouses. A report by Business Insider reveals that a warehouse employee was fired by Amazon for taking too many bathroom breaks.
According to the report, Maria Iris Jennitte Olivero claims to be suffering form irritable bowel syndrome, which meant she needed to go to the bathroom up to six times a day. Olivero claims that she told a manager last year about the condition and was told to get a doctor’s note. The report says that the employee didn’t get the note and was warned by her manager in January 2021. She was given five days to get the note but, according to her, she couldn’t get an appointment for the next 6 days.
The manager wrote her up and five days later she was fired. The employee was told that it was “too late” to provide a doctor’s note as she had been sacked.
Olivero is now suing Amazon for discriminating against someone with a disability. The employee filed a case in June in New Jersey Superior Court, seeking damages for her unfair dismissal. Amazon, according to the report, “responded in US District Court, attempting to escalate the case to federal court.”
Although the employee didn’t mention how much compensation she is seeking in damages, Amazon has said that it was more than $75,000 — a reason why the company wants to move the case to a federal court. Amazon in the court detailed how much she earned and the amount she would have lost since being fired. Amazon claims that the “purported gross lost wages to date are $17,251.75.”