Jeff Bezos’s former housekeeper Mercedes Wedaa is suing him for inhumane working conditions during her employment at his house. She is seeking millions in damages.
She claims to have had to work in hazardous and unhygienic conditions. Her claim is that she had to work grueling hours and she was subjected to 14-hour shifts without any break. In addition, the service staff had to make themselves scarce whenever possible as the family did not want to see the housekeeping staff around the premises which made it all the more stressful, she said.
No breaks for the bathroom
The worst thing was the lack of bathroom facilities for the employees. Housekeepers were restricted from entering the home except for cleaning so they had no access to restrooms on the property.
They were instead told to use a utilities room that was difficult to reach, requiring staff to climb through a window before reaching a dirty mechanical room and a chemically saturated laundry room, with the unhygienic practices resulting in severe health issues such as frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Wedaa also said that staff had to have meals in the laundry room as there were no designated rest areas for them.
Fired for speaking up
Wedaa said that she was fired for speaking up about all of the above and the amount she is seeking in damages remains unknown but lawyers speculate that the amount could run into millions for the billionaire.
Jeff Bezos lawyers have denied the allegations and say that Wedaa started the lawsuit after he refused to pay her $9 million which she had asked for as a settlement amount.
No one is worried
For Bezos who is worth around $150 billion, any lawsuit of this kind would not dent his wealth in the least bit so it unlikely that he is going to lose any sleep over it.
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