WaterSaver acting like WatersTester

Spend more than 6 minutes a day in the bathroom at Chicago's WaterSaver Faucet company and you'll face disciplinary measures. That's what a union contends the manufacturer is pulling: timing bathroom breaks and warning employees when they can't beat the clock. The union, Teamsters local 743, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming WaterSaver unfairly disciplined 19 workers in June for "excessive use" of washrooms. The company's human resources department described "excessive use of the bathroom as... 60 minutes or more over the last 10 working days," according to the affidavit. Do the math and it works out to 6 minutes a day. The company has spreadsheets on every union employee on how long they were in the bathroom, and there have even been meetings with workers and HR where the workers had to explain what they were doing in the bathroom. It's not only an invasion of privacy, but also unreasonable given that the human body can't always perform on cue. Also, the company's 140 workers don't have paid sick days. Workers who can't afford to lose a day's pay come into work sick, and may end up using bathrooms more, so paid sick days are also something WaterSaver might want to look into.