’14-hour days with no break and no bathroom’: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sued by his former housekeeper

Published

3 years ago

November 5, 2022

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A former housekeeper for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos alleges she and other employees were made to work in unsafe and unsanitary conditions – including having to climb out of a laundry room window to access a bathroom.

Mercedes Wedaa is suing Mr Bezos and two companies that allegedly manage his properties in a lawsuit filed in Seattle this week.

She was hired in 2019 for a housekeeping role that required her to “work around a family without being seen”, according to the complaint.

Some of her shifts were as long as 14 hours without breaks, during which time there was “no reasonably accessible bathroom for the housekeepers”, the lawsuit alleges.

When the Bezos family was at home, the housekeepers were only allowed to enter the house to clean, meaning they could not use the laundry door to access a bathroom directly, as it led only to the residence.

Instead, they would sometimes have to climb out of the laundry room window onto a path that led to a mechanical room and downstairs to a bathroom, a situation that was in place for around 18 months, Ms Wedaa claims.

The complaint said that – due to the lack of easily accessible bathrooms – she and other housekeepers spent large parts of their day unable to use the toilet, resulting in frequent urinary tract infections.

Among Ms Wedaa’s other claims were:

• There was no room for the housekeepers to rest
• Housekeepers sometimes ate their meals in a laundry room
• The Hispanic employees faced discrimination because of their race
• She complained to bosses about undocumented workers being brought in on a contract basis, lack of rest breaks and unsafe working conditions
• As a result of her complaints she was demoted, despite never having been disciplined over job performance
• She was wrongfully dismissed, told that she appeared “unhappy” and this was having a negative effect on the team

Ms Wedaa is seeking damages in an amount to be decided at trial.

Mr Bezos’s lawyer Harry Korrell said Ms Wedaa’s claims were absurd, adding that she had filed the lawsuit only after her demand for a $9m (£8m) payout was refused.

He added: “Ms Wedaa made over six figures annually and was the lead housekeeper.

“She was responsible for her own break and meal times, and there were several bathrooms and breakrooms available to her and other staff.

“The evidence will show that Ms Wedaa was terminated for performance reasons.”

Ms Wedaa’s lawyer Patrick McGuigan said his client had “worked hard all her life, she is a very credible person and compelling evidence supports her claims”.

US

Donald Trump wades into Sydney Sweeney ad debate

Published

20 hours ago

August 5, 2025

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Donald Trump wades into Sydney Sweeney ad debate

Donald Trump has waded into the debate surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad.

The American Eagle ad, which features the 27-year-old actress, who starred in the HBO series Euphoria and White Lotus, has the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.

It has sparked a debate in the US over race and Western beauty standards.

In a Truth Social post, the US president described it as the “hottest ad out there”.

Hailing Sweeney as a “registered Republican”, he said the jeans are “flying off the shelves”, adding: “Go get ’em Sydney!”

Most of the criticism of the ad has centred on videos using the word “genes” instead of “jeans”, with one in which Sweeney says: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”

Critics argued the play on words potentially promotes eugenics, a discredited theory that believed humanity could be improved through the selective breeding of certain traits.

But others have defended the ad, saying the critics are reading too much into its message.

The video appeared on American Eagle’s Facebook page and other social media channels, but is not part of the ad campaign.

In a statement on Instagram on Friday, American Eagle Outfitters said the campaign “is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”

Stocks in American Eagle Outfitters jumped by 23.3% after Mr Trump’s intervention.

Trump knows all publicity is good publicity

They say all publicity is good publicity, and Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad is certainly notching up the column inches, especially now Donald Trump has intervened.

The US president must have been breathlessly excited when he found out Sweeney was a registered Republican because he wrote a Truth Social post in support of her before deleting it twice and reposting three times to correct various spelling and grammatical errors.

He clearly could not wait to get involved in the discourse.

“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there,” he wrote. “Go get ’em Sydney!”

In any other era, the president weighing in so heavily on one side of a pop culture issue would’ve been unusual.

But the current president knows people are talking about the ad around their dinner tables and at parties right now. By injecting himself into the discussion, they will now be talking about him too.

In his Truth Social post, which he reposted three times to fix various typos, Mr Trump compared the ad with “woke” ones “on the other side of the ledger” – as he criticised other companies, as well as hitting out at Taylor Swift.

“The tide has seriously turned – Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be,” he wrote.

Sky News has contacted Sweeney’s agent for comment.

US

Soulja Boy arrested on suspected weapons charge during traffic stop

Published

2 days ago

August 4, 2025

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Soulja Boy arrested on suspected weapons charge during traffic stop

Soulja Boy has been arrested and charged with possession of a firearm during a traffic stop.

The rapper, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, was a passenger in the car that was stopped in the Fairfax area of Los Angeles early on Sunday morning, the LAPD said.

“A passenger was detained and police arrested DeAndre Cortez Way for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm,” the statement added.

Possessing a firearm as a convicted felon is a felony.

The 35-year-old was booked into jail in the LAPD’s Wilshire Division shortly after 6am. It is not clear if he has since been released.

Police did not provide information on what prompted the traffic stop and who else was in the vehicle with Way.

Soulja Boy is yet to publicly comment on the incident.

Soulja Boy is best known for his 2007 hit Crank That, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and landed him a nomination for best rap song at the Grammys.

The rapper was arrested and charged with a felony in 2014 for carrying a loaded gun during a traffic stop in LA.

In April this year, the Chicago hip-hop artist was ordered to pay more than $4m (£3m) in damages to his former assistant after being found liable for sexually assault, as well as physically and emotionally abusing them.

US

Tennessee: Man tries to detonate 14 explosive devices while being arrested

Published

3 days ago

August 3, 2025

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Tennessee: Man tries to detonate 14 explosive devices while being arrested

Police in Tennessee have discovered 14 improvised explosive devices in a man’s home as they were arresting him, the local sheriff’s office said.

Officers were executing a warrant in the home of Kevin Wade O’Neal in Old Fort, about 45 miles (70km) east of Chattanooga, after he had threatened to kill public officials and law enforcement personnel in Polk County.

After arresting the 54-year-old, officers noticed “something smouldering” in the bedroom where he was found.

On closer inspection, they discovered an improvised explosive device and evacuated the house until bomb squad officers arrived at the scene.

Fourteen devices were found inside the property – none of which detonated.

O’Neal was charged with 11 counts of attempted first-degree murder, corresponding to nine officers and two other people inside the property when the suspect tried to detonate the devices.

He also faces 14 counts of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of explosive components.