{"id":33844,"date":"2023-05-25T12:18:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T18:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/amazon-delivery-drivers-in-colorado-peed-in-bottles-pooped-in-bags-to-keep-jobs-lawsuit-says\/"},"modified":"2023-05-25T18:18:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T18:18:28","slug":"amazon-delivery-drivers-in-colorado-peed-in-bottles-pooped-in-bags-to-keep-jobs-lawsuit-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/amazon-delivery-drivers-in-colorado-peed-in-bottles-pooped-in-bags-to-keep-jobs-lawsuit-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon delivery drivers in Colorado peed in bottles, pooped in bags to keep jobs, lawsuit says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Amazon fulfillment center is seen in Thornton. (Jim Hill\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Ryan Schilling spent eight years in the U.S. Army serving in combat zones during the Iraq War. After he left the service and moved to Aurora in 2018, he applied for a job as an Amazon delivery driver.<\/p>\n

Within a few weeks of training and starting the job, he found himself overwhelmed with the demands. During his busiest shifts, he was required to make more than 200 stops a day, delivering upward of 500 packages to customers\u2019 doorsteps.<\/p>\n

Along the way, he barely had time to use the restroom or take his state-mandated 10-minute rest break every four hours, he said in an interview. He often skipped lunch to keep up with Amazon\u2019s performance metrics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed you have to complete your route on time is, for most people, inhuman,\u201d Schilling, 28, said.<\/p>\n

To avoid falling behind, Schilling would pack plastic water bottles to urinate in during his shift. On more than one occasion, he defecated into a doggy waste bag in the back of his truck.<\/p>\n

The conditions reminded him of how he had to get by while in the armed forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not in a combat zone,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason I should be having to do the same things in a regular place of employment in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schilling, along with two other current and former Amazon delivery drivers, filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the tech giant in Denver District Court on Monday, alleging the company\u2019s breakneck work pace and driver tracking technology prevents workers from taking state-required rest breaks.<\/p>\n

Workers can\u2019t take time to find public restrooms on their routes without facing admonishment from higher-ups or disciplinary actions, according to the lawsuit. Trash cans in Amazon fulfillment centers are frequently overflowing with bottles of urine that drivers have thrown away at the end of their shifts, it alleges.<\/p>\n

On top of violating Colorado labor laws, the company\u2019s workplace policies and demands deprive drivers of basic human needs, said David Seligman, executive director of Towards Justice, the Denver-based legal organization representing the drivers alongside two out-of-state law firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to deliver packages for Amazon, you have to pee in bottles,\u201d Seligman said.<\/p>\n

The case, one of the largest of its kind according to the filing attorneys, also alleges that Amazon\u2019s workplace policies and practices discriminate against women and transgender people. It proposes a class-action lawsuit to compensate Colorado workers for missed break time and unequal burdens placed on those workers, along with a request for Amazon to change its workplace policies.<\/p>\n

Amazon declined to comment on the specific allegations in the case. The Seattle-based tech company employs thousands of drivers in Colorado, mainly through third-party delivery companies referred to as Delivery Service Providers, which operate under various business names.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make it clear that we encourage our DSPs to support their drivers,\u201d said Sam Stephenson, a spokesman for Amazon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat includes giving drivers the time they need for breaks in between stops, providing a list within the Amazon Delivery app of nearby restroom facilities and gas stations, and building in time on routes to use the restroom or take longer breaks,\u201d Stephenson said.<\/p>\n

In order to fulfill customer orders efficiently and quickly, Amazon uses GPS tracking, surveillance cameras and its driver app to keep DSP companies and employees in line with Amazon\u2019s assigned time frame, according to the lawsuit. Any diversions from a driver\u2019s route are instantly recorded by the company\u2019s artificial intelligence programs.<\/p>\n

Schilling said he regularly received texts from his DSP\u2019s dispatch operators when he fell behind on Amazon\u2019s delivery time frame. The messages would urge him to speed up, even when he tried to take one of his state-required rest breaks, the complaint states.<\/p>\n

He eventually suffered an on-the-job injury and is currently on medical leave. The demands of the job have contributed to increased stress and anxiety outside of work, he said.<\/p>\n

Other plaintiffs also said they were unable to take breaks or use the restroom while on the job.<\/p>\n

After starting her position as a delivery driver at a DSP in Loveland in August 2022, Leah Cross learned from other employees that she would need to find a way around using the restroom during her shift to keep up with Amazon\u2019s quotas, the complaint says.<\/p>\n

She tried to limit how much water she drank before a shift. When that didn\u2019t work, she tried to find restrooms along her route. But whenever she would try to stop, she would receive calls from supervisors asking, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d or \u201cAre you lost?\u201d<\/p>\n

When Cross brought up the issue with one of her supervisors, they asked that she purchase a urination device called a \u201cShewee.\u201d The device would allow her to funnel her urine into plastic bottles so she could go without leaving the delivery van, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Cross began bringing a plastic bag holding her Shewee, toilet paper and some sanitary products with her to work. She also brought a change of clothing in case she had an accident, the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n

At one point, after she had held her need to urinate for several hours, a supervisor instructed her to pee in the back of the delivery van out of view from one of the truck\u2019s surveillance cameras, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called my fiance crying about how overwhelmed I felt,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Several months after starting her delivery job, Cross\u2019 DSP fired her for failing to meet delivery quotas.<\/p>\n

Her and other drivers\u2019 request for a class action case comes as Amazon faces harsher scrutiny from federal regulators for workplace violations. In February, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Amazon twice for illegal ergonomic hazards in its distribution warehouses in Colorado.<\/p>\n

The citations included forcing employees to conduct dangerous lifts, reaches and backbends that can cause musclo-skeletal disorders. The company was forced to pay about $15,000 for each citation.<\/p>\n

Workplace policies that prioritize speed over safety or bathroom access can have negative health consequences, said Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA policy adviser and current fellow at Georgetown University who studies workplace safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoluntary urinary retention can lead to increased frequency of urinary tract infections and cause real damage,\u201d she said. \u201cWorkers have the basic right to take breaks that they\u2019re supposed to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

The path of the Colorado case against Amazon is uncertain because a class-action lawsuit of this size and focus hasn\u2019t been filed before, Berkowitz said.<\/p>\n

Amazon is likely to deny the claims in court, but Colorado\u2019s worker-friendly laws make it more likely to succeed than in other states that don\u2019t guarantee breaks for workers. A ruling in favor of workers could take years, though, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been similar issues with bus drivers or even construction workers,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd those companies have to figure out a place where their employees can go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers in the proposed class action case say they plan to pursue a jury trial and compensation for missed rest breaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of us use Amazon because it\u2019s so convenient,\u201d said Valerie Collins, an attorney with Towards Justice. \u201cThis case is really important because it shows there\u2019s a real human cost to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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