> According to the filing, when she told a manager in November about her IBS and that she needed to use the bathroom up to six times a day, the manager told her to get a doctor's note. It appeared from the filing that Olivero didn't get the note.<p>> Olivero then said in the filing that in January her manager said she was going to be written up, and that she'd need to get a doctor's note within five days.<p>That seems... reasonable? Two months is a decent amount of time. How long should Amazon have waited?
If the issue led to termination it's at least conceivable that it's a little more complicated than the staffer is letting on. If the person took six 5-minute breaks and got their tasks accomplished, no problem. But if they took 6 20-minute bathroom breaks, that's 2 hours out of a day in the bathroom, on a daily basis. That's an employee who's away from their workstation fully 1/4 of their day. Are they really able to fulfill their responsibilities. Are they sincerely trying to fulfill their responsibilities?<p>While most people who have chronic conditions are absolutely willing and able to perform up to task if given a reasonable accommodation, in some cases it's staggeringly apparent that the employee has no intention of ever putting in a full day's work, and is using the claim of an illness as a shield while they coast through the day. Manage a large enough number of people and you will inevitably come across such types on rare occasion.
On bathroom breaks:<p><a href="https://coreyrobin.com/2012/03/08/lavatory-and-liberty-the-secret-history-of-the-bathroom-break/" rel="nofollow">https://coreyrobin.com/2012/03/08/lavatory-and-liberty-the-s...</a>
I have irrital bowel syndrome and I got a not from my doctor. I also missed days because I was in a hospital.<p>The law firm I worked for lost the notes from my doctor and fired me.
Cue the amazon defenders with their “it’s not that bad amazon is better than working in a coal mine suck-it-up softie”. Humans are not AWS instances. We need bathroom breaks, conversations, time off when a family member dies, and high enough wages we can build our lives and care for the people in them. If your company is not doing that, then it is actively harming the people who make you money - and should be driven out of business.