'Get all of the documentation you can about this': Retail job asks employees to use the bathroom only on their pre-determined breaks

There are so many sacrifices you make for your job. Should going to the bathroom be one of them?

Your job might ask you to be a little bit inhuman at times. If you followed your instincts and desires at every moment, you would probably never. show up to work. But you override those feelings because of the greater issue at stake. Work asks you to compartmentalize your feelings, putting them away when they're not convenient. Think of all the times you felt like crying at work but choked back tears because you were in a professional setting. We're always making bargains against the soft animal of our bodies in order to stay employed. But there is only so much we can do about that before it starts harming us. 

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  • A retail worker puts clothes away at a clothing store
    via Unsplash+ (Andy Quezada)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Job wants us to only use the bathroom on our breaks?

    I'm unfortunately in a leadership role at a large retail chain in the United States. Recently during one of our leadership meetings the topic of bathroom breaks was brought up, and we were told that team members are supposed to use the bathroom on their breaks,
    via queenofshibs
  • and that frequently using the bathroom outside of your breaks is not allowed unless you have an accommodation. I think this is ridiculous and I'm wondering if it's even legal? I'm on a medication that requires me to drink a lot of water so I have to use the bathroom pretty frequently. I always try to go on my breaks but a lot of days that's just not enough.
    via queenofshibs

  • Commenters gave their advice and expertise.

    ReaverRogue OSHA requires employees to be able to leave a work area to use bathrooms as needed. They also cannot unreasonably restrict access to them. It'd be worth bringing this up in private so you can experience the joy of them backpedaling at the next meeting.
    via ReaverRogue
  • RickySpanish-33 My cousin worked at a poultry plant, management wouldn't let a woman use the bathroom. She begged. They wouldn't let her leave her position. She p ed herself standing up, the plant was shut down for days and she won a nice settlement.
    via RickySpanish-33
  • reala728 get all of the documentation you can about this. then yourself. one lifetime of freedom. day for a (realistically, a suit would take months at minimum. potentially even years. im not joking with this advice, but you'd also have to be
    via reala728
  • prepared to survive on a potentially protracted legal battle, that you would absolutely win, but they would bank on you losing patience)
    via reala728
  • Barzobius If they could get everything they would actually want, they would enslave everyone. No bathroom, no sleep, no food unless the bare minimum to survive, etc. People are evil. At the very second i would be presented with this kind of bulls, i would tell them absolutely NO or get my immediate resignation.
    via Barzobius

  • Bosses in corporate settings will sometimes try to get away with as much as possible. They will see how far they can push their employees until they fold. This isn't a healthy management style, but it is one that comes up more often than you would like it to. It did here. If employees aren't empowered with knowledge, then they might think they have no choice but to take the boss's instructions in stride and never question them. That's a slippery slope, though, one that you would be wise not to go down. This is why it's important to advocate for yourself. You have to look out for your own needs, because no one else is likely to. That's what happened in this story, when a retail worker found themselves in an interesting situation. They were being asked to betray one of the basest human instincts, and they didn't know how long they could do that. Moreover, they didn't know if it was legal or not, and needed some advice on how to go about it. Nobody wants to confront their boss, because nobody wants to be put in a situation where they would have to. But sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Keep scrolling to see what happened here and see what you think about it.

  • McDuchess Illegal. At one job, I had a friend who had MS. She walked with a cane, and took meds that caused her to pee a lot. Her AH supervisor (desk job, more or less clerical) started timing the number and duration of her bathroom breaks.
    via McDuchess
  • My friend, who did not tolerate fools of any kind, talked to the medical director, who had a little talk with the supervisor about things that were illegal and could both get her fired and the company fined or sued.
    via McDuchess
  • No_Structure7185 "unless you have an accommodation" - lol. i would need an accomodation. why? bc im an animal that needs water. some people are just dumba es.
    via No_Structure7185
  • A young woman works in a retail environment
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Chrontius Don't enforce that rule, they'll throw you under the bus when you get nailed for the labor law violation.
    via Chrontius
  • TDiffRob6876 Sounds like something Dollar General would do, not sure if it is. They can make requests but they can't demand it because that would be illegal.
    via TDiffRob6876
  • Maelkothian Tell them that would mean they have to expand the bathroom capacity to a point where waiting times are reduced to a reasonable tijd of everyone goes to the bathroom at the same time. So if there are now 2 toilets and 50 people who need to go at the same time your going to bed at least 25 more for reasonable accommodation
    via Maelkothian
  • Fantastic-Nerve7... that's not just ridiculous it's borderline inhumane you can't control when your body needs to go and forcing people to hold it like they're in school is wild especially in a retail job where you're on your feet all day
    via Fantastic-Nerve7068
  • locklear24 Even if you're on an inspection or assembly line. that has to continually be manned, your ability to go the bathroom cannot be hindered. If a team lead or manager or coworker has to swap in with you to cover your bathroom time, so be it. They do it for breaks; they can do it for this.
    via locklear24
  • Quantumquandary If I have to go to the bathroom, I go. Granted, I try to make sure it's a decent time to do so. But if a company tried to actually tell me I couldn't use the bathroom when I need to, I'd take them to the cleaners. F corporate bulls
    via Quantumquandary
  • coopnjaxdad This type of micromanagement always makes me angry. Sure there are employees who will spend 30 minutes dropping a deuce and doom-scrolling and then go on break but in my experience that is not the deal with most employees that just need to use the restroom.
    via coopnjaxdad
  • Intelligent_Sky_... Had a friend who told me this too. An email to HR about how OSHA would feel about this was all it took to get them to reverse course
    via Intelligent_Sky_7081
  • TheBattyWitch Not legal and your upper management could get the whole company in trouble over trying to enforce something like that
    via TheBattyWitch
  • flockyboi First off: don't think that's legal in the first place but also Second: based on the medication thing it'd be pretty d in reasonable to get a doctor's note for an accommodation
    via flockyboi

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