can a employer tell a employee when and how often they can use the restroom?

Question

and ask them if they have a medical condition?
and what can a employee do if harrased about this or and if when they are dischared or suspended with out pay due to this

just twice a day . at the beggining of the shift and about a hr after lunch . the problem is the one at the begining at the shift . just cant control when i have to go . i am just realy regular.

Answer 1

The starting point here is to determine what restroom access employees are supposed to have. Next, if the usual access is insufficient for your purposes, you will need to look at whether your employer needs to make an accommodation for you that goes above and beyond routine restroom access.

The rules on what constitutes routinely sufficient restroom access are entirely unclear. The Occupation Health and Safety Administration has issued an interpretion of a regulation that provides: "[r]estrictions on access must be reasonable, and may not cause extended delays." The document goes on to say that employee complaints about restrictions should be evaluated on a case by case basis. I do not find the document remotely helpful and I'm not familiar with any case law that has tried to apply this rule. You might provide a doctor's note indicating how frequently you need to use the restroom in order to maintain good health. The cited document, a link to which is found below, does recognize that certain people require more frequent restroom access than others.

A potential avenue for seeking increased restroom access would be through the American with Disabilities Act. I actually do not think that this statute will help you, but I'll go through the analysis so you can understand why I say that. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires certain employers--those with 15 or more employees--to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. The accommodations are intended to enable otherwise qualified employees to perform essential functions of the job.

However, every medical impairment is not a disability, and that is significant because employers have no obligation to accommodate medical impairments, only disabilities. A medical impairment only rises to the level of a disability if it significantly limits one or more major life activities. Here, the relevant life activity is waste elimination. However, based on your description, I'm not sure you even have a diagnosed medical impairment, much less a disability.

Waste elimination problems that rise to the level of disabilities would include things like incontinence or undergoing dialysis--things of that nature. Just feeling like you need to go a couple of extra times per day does not strike me as something that courts would recognize as a disability. Perhaps more information both about your medical diagnosis and about how the condition affects you both at and away from work would change that.

Your employer asked you about a possible medical condition because they are trying to determine what, if any, obligation they have to accomodate you. If you have not shared with them information that suggests a severe impairment rising to the level of a disability they will likely determine that they are not obliged to treat you differently from other employees.

Following is a link to guidance issued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that explains how to determine whether someone is a "qualified person with a disability."

If you are concerned that you are not being provided sufficient restroom access, I suspect the best avenue would be to consult OSHA, or whatever state equivalent regulates occupational safety and health in your locale. Whenever you contact a governmental agency your primary goal should be to gather information.

Do understand that if you choose to file a complaint with any agency, you risk the ire of your employer and potential retaliation. The retaliation is, of course, illegal and generally actionable, however, if you can take care of a problem by modifying your own conduct (for example, by getting up earlier in the morning or cutting out coffee in the morning), you are well advised to do so. Having a job is nearly always preferable to having a law suit.

Answer 2

If an individual is in the restroom more than at their desk or work location, you bet they can. They are paying you to work, not run to the restroom constantly.

If a person works on a line in a factory, they can't constantly be running to the bathroom and breaking up the line so that could be a real problem some place like that.

If you do have a medical reason, get a note from your doctor along with a letter explaining your situation. Make copies for your records and go to your boss and give them the original documents. Let them know you just want the paperwork in your file so there won't be any questions and if you need to, pass up your break time and try to make up some of your work. I did that with no problems and I worked for a large city government. Hopefully your supervisor will go along with you and help you through all this like mine did.

And lastly, put yourself in your employers place. If you were paying someone to work and they were in the restroom all the time, wouldn't you want to know what was going on? Don't take offense at everything until you have put yourself in the other person's shoes first. One can learn a lot about compassion and understanding that way :)

Wishing you well........

Answer 3

In some jobs certainly if the employer needs coverage at all times - think air traffic controller or police dispatcher.

If an employee is going to the bathroom many times a day they should have some reason as to why that's the case.

Answer 4

NO WAY. you should never be left alone, a manager should be there at all times. If you have a medical condition they would be required to allow you to use it. If they fire and/or suspend you, you may be able to sue them.(do not know how much you would actually get but you may prevent other businesses from doing the same thing).

Answer 5

Employers have every right to ask if you have a medical condition, but they have no right to fire you over it. They also have no right to tell you how often you can use the bathroom.
He has no right to suspend or dismiss you.
If you're being harrased by your employer you can contact any lawyer, and they'll fight your employer for you.

Have a nice day.

Answer 6

Definitely not! But the employee should be able to prove that they aren't just running back and forth to hide or to do crack. That's really the only reason an employer has to ask about it.

Answer 7

i would immediately contact the h.r. department. each person has specific needs. however if bathroom privileges were abused (going every 15 minutes to look at yourself in the mirror or something) that would be different. but to actually have the need to use the bathroom is a right all people have and there should never be any limits to it's access.

Answer 8

They told us that where I used to work. One day when the supervisor was away (he was gone more than half the time, goofing off) somebody took a dump in his office.

Over the last six years worker's rights have pretty much disappeared. Part of the fascist mentality that business should run government.

Answer 9

How often are you going? If it is a constant interruption of work then yes I think they have the right to know. If you have a medical reason why you are going so frequently then you should tell them but if you are just going to get out of work, well that's just wrong. They are paying you to do your job not sit on the toilet.

Answer 10

Was the situation explained to the employer. If not the employee deserve what he got.