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Housekeeper sues Jeff Bezos over "unsafe and unsanitary" work conditions [1]

['Carla Sinclair']

Date: 2022-11-03

A housekeeper who cleaned Jeff Bezos' Seattle mansion for three years is suing the billionaire over allegations of racial discrimination and poor working conditions.

Mercedes Wedaa, who as "lead housekeeper" supervised 5–6 other housekeepers for Bezos, claimed in her lawsuit that she was forced "to work long hours [10–14 hours a day] without rest or meal breaks," was "exposed to unsafe and unsanitary work conditions," and, because she was not allowed inside the main house when the Bezos family was at home, usually had no easily accessible toilet to use, causing health issues.

"For about 18 months, in order to use a bathroom, [the] plaintiff and other housekeepers were forced to climb out of the laundry room window to the outside. Then run along the path to the mechanical room, through the mechanical room and downstairs to a bathroom," the lawsuit says.

From The Guardian:

[Wedaa] claimed in a lawsuit filed in Seattle state court that she and other hispanic cleaning staff were treated differently to white staff. She claims that Bezos's household manager "became aggressive and abusive" towards her while being "respectful and polite" towards white groundskeepers. … Wedaa, who first started working at Bezos's home in 2019, said she was regularly required to work for 10 to 14 hours without lunch or rest breaks if Bezos and his family were "in residence". The lawsuit claims that there was no dedicated break room or rest area and that Wedaa and other household staff would regularly eat in the laundry room. The lawsuit claims that because Wedaa and other housekeepers "had to spend large parts of their day unable to use the toilet", they frequently developed urinary tract infections.

A lawyer for Bezos calls her claim of racial discrimination "absurd" and says her allegations "lack merit."

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