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Lawsuit: Amazon refused to give pregnant workers bathroom breaks and refused to give them permission to sit or use a chair and later fired them after a pregnancy-related hospitalization (www.abetterbalance.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1392443/lawsuit-amazon-refused-to-give-pregnant-workers-bathroom-breaks-and-refused-to-to-give-t

ECBAWM.

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[–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (12 children)

I know this is an over simplification, but wouldn't being unemployed be better than working for Amazon? They're so over-the-top cruel to their employees, between piss bottles, tornado deaths, and now this?

I heard a while back there was a leaked internal memo Amazon was worried they might run out of workers since turnover is so high.

I guess some people dont mind/can tolerate those brutal conditions, so why would Amazon care to improve things?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

    Generally speaking, being able to afford food and shelter from the elements is much preferable than living under a bridge and starving. The former is much better for your baby as well.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (9 children)

    Assuming zero public assistance or friends or family or charity is available? Completely on your own? Of course some people are in that spot but I have a hard time believing the average person has nobody in their life they could ask for some kind of help.

    Is the solution is to just accept your working conditions? I also have a hard time seeing that as the solution.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    There's some public assistance available, but for some things (like housing, sadly), they're not always immediately available, and there can be long waiting lists.

    "Average person" might depend on age group. You're probably right about the average 20-something, but as we age, family members die and friends move away or start families of their own. (Though, in this context, you're probably right because it's about people who are pregnant. The average pregnant person probably has at least one person they could ask for help.)

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Very true, especially if it's cold. Idk. It just upsets me thinking about what people have to endure i guess. It also sucks that their sacrifice for enduring is for the benefit of Besos.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    Yeahhh... That's just kinda how it is for a lot of people, unfortunately. In survival mode, you don't really have the luxury of quitting a job just because you hate it. I mean, maybe if you're just a single guy with a car or tent to sleep in, just in case... But if you have a family to support (or will soon), you just have to tough it out until you can secure another job (or until you get fired in a way that qualifies for unemployment benefits while searching for a new job).

    Having been raised in poverty, I can't remember a single time my parents liked their jobs.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (3 children)

    Have you ever tried applying for public assistance? Do you think that a government which is already failing to enforce the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is doing much to ensure that welfare is accessible to anyone?

    My family let me stay with them about two weeks after my ex husband illegally kicked me out. I slept on a friends floor for about a year after. I was lucky to have that level of help. Many do not.

    The way I got out of that situation was working (and continuing to work) 60-80 hours a week.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    I have, it took a few weeks, I know it's not instant.. better than just giving up and not even trying tho, no? Even if it's only a couple hundred a month.

    I know some people do not have anywhere or anyone to turn to, I tried to mention that in my original post.. maybe most people are that alone.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    just giving up and not even trying tho

    When I needed that kind of help, it was pretty much inaccessible without navigating a complicated maze of forms and paperwork and unsympathetic bureaucratic officials, which are something I just can’t do when stressed, and I’m a fairly literate person.

    Maybe this is a state by state thing, but accessing welfare as a single able bodied adult where I live seems pretty unimaginable.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 weeks ago

    And a lot of them require an address or p.o. box which not everyone has. And deadlines if you miss by a day you just get denied. A lot of government assistance in the U.S. is terrible and complex and time consuming. I just assume charities are pretty varied state to state so I didn't want to bring those up, where every state has SOME kind of program.

    I actually used to work for my states unemployment office for a few years. The help I could actually give over the phone was minimal at best, another department did reviews and made decisions, I could really only give updates which 9 times out of 10 was "its still pending". To the people asking what they should do while they wait I would say "Family, friends, churches, charities". At least its better than saying "there is nothing you can do."

    I just have such a hard time accepting that "we just have to accept whatever conditions and whatever pay our empyers offer cuz we're lucky they even offer us that." Or getting upset a pregnant lady wants to take time off work cuz now she isn't bringing money into the family.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    This comments reeks of never had to struggle in life lol. I’m going to choose to believe you’re just young and fortunate. If you quit your job you don’t get unemployment usually. This is America, public assistance is sparse to be generous, and to qualify for it you have to be actively looking for a job, including those Amazon Warehouse positions. Despite what the American right would have you believe, you can’t just choose not to work and then live fat dumb and happy on the taxpayers dime.

    And no, the average person previously working at an Amazon warehouse doesn’t have a huge support system. If they did, they probably wouldn’t have been working at an Amazon warehouse while that pregnant to begin with. And to burden what support network you do have with voluntary unemployment is… kinda nuts.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago

    I have been fortunate in life, sorry if that "reeks" to you. I guess it just sounds like everyone has been "defeated by the system" or whatever, and we all just have to accept what little we have and consider ourselves lucky to even have that and you're on your own, that's just how it is, etc etc.

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