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 a bathroom.
Mercedes Wedaa is suing Mr. Bezos and two companies allegedly managing his properties in a lawsuit filed in Seattle this week.
She was hired in 2019 for a cleaning role that required her to “work around a family without being seen,” according to the complaint.
Some of her shifts lasted up to 14 hours without interruption, during which “there was no reasonably accessible bathroom for the housekeepers,” the lawsuit argues.
When the Bezos family were at home, the housekeepers could only enter the house to clean, which means they could not use the laundry door to access a bathroom directly, as it only led to the residence.
Instead, they would sometimes have to climb out the laundry room window onto a path that led to a mechanical room and downstairs to a bathroom, a situation that had been in place for about 18 months, Ms. Wedaa says.
The complaint alleged that due to the lack of easily accessible restrooms, she and other maids spent much of the day unable to use the restroom, causing frequent urinary tract infections.
Among Ms. Wedaa’s other statements were:
• There was no room for the servants to rest
• The maids sometimes ate their meals in a laundry
• Hispanic employees faced discrimination because of their race
• Complained to bosses about hiring undocumented workers on a contractual basis, lack of rest breaks and unsafe working conditions
• As a result of her complaints she was demoted, despite never having been disciplined for work performance
• She was unfairly fired, told she looked “unhappy” and this was having a negative effect on the team
Ms Wedaa seeks compensation for damages in an amount to be determined in court.
Bezos’ lawyer Harry Korrell said Ms Wedaa’s claims were absurd, adding that she only filed suit after her request for a $ 9 million (£ 8 million) payment was denied.
He added: “Ms. Wedaa earned more than six figures a year and was the main housekeeper.
“She was in charge of her breaks and meal times, and there were several restrooms and break rooms available to her and other 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, is a very credible person and compelling evidence supports her claims.”
