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Jeff Bezos sued by former employee over long working hours, racial bias
Jeff Bezos: Mercedes Wedaa joined Jeff Bezos' staff in September 2019 and said that the working conditions were unsanitary.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was sued by a former housekeeper saying that she faced racial discrimination while working for him and was forced to work long hours, Bloomberg reported.
Mercedes Wedaa joined Jeff Bezos' staff in September 2019 and said that the working conditions were unsanitary. Mercedes Wedaa also said that she had to work without rest or meal breaks.
Filing a complaint in Seattle state court, Mercedes Wedaa said that she sometimes had to work 10 to 14 hours a day as she supervised a team of five to six housekeepers. The staff did not have a break room and had to eat in the laundry room, she further alleged.
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The staff was not allowed to use the bathroom in the nearby security room and had to climb out a window to use one, she claimed. Mercedes Wedaa also said that she was subjected to "aggressive and abusive” behaviour by one of Jeff Bezos’s household managers as she was treated differently.
“Labour and employment laws say working people must be paid for the work they perform, and must be able to to perform that work in a safe, sanitary and healthy workplace,” Patrick McGuigan, a lawyer representing Mercedes Wedaa said.
