Human Resource Blog

Drinking Water and Restroom Necessity

How would you respond to this message from an old friend? I am an HR pro, and i am stumped!: Well I have several concerns, I will try to form into a question, but not sure what question to ask. My concern is that I work for a call center in Texas. I have several health issues causing me problems: osteoarthritis in the neck and lower back, scoliosis, fibroid tumor, hernia, IBS and depression/menopause issues. Due to all the problems I am experiencing, it is a necessity to drink at least 10 glasses or more of water per day. This creates a necessity to go to the bathroom frequently. With proper diet, exercise and water hydration, I am better able to control the symptoms, however, due to working in a call center the eating right, workouts and bathroom function becomes a problem. Water unfortunately makes me go more frequently than other liquids would. I am dehydrated as it is and have to try to hold it for breaks and lunch, since going to the bathroom forces us to hold our urine or bowel movement, due to getting off the phone to go affects our production and adherence to the schedule. There is no way around it. We also can get in trouble for leaving the desk excessively. also due to all the health issues having a normal work schedule where I work 8 to 5 or 9 to 5:30 benefits me more, as a later one throws my IBS into an even bigger problem. I am wondering what can I do? I need to be allowed to drink water and go to the bathroom as often as necessary in order to avoid further bladder or bowel problems, and I need a schedule allowing me to live a more normal life to control the IBS and dehydration. Night schedules only further complicate the issue. What rights do I have, and what can I do to insure I get what I need for my health? Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Sheryl McCool

The relevant statute here is the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. ADA requires an employer to make reasonable accommodations for an employee with a documented permanent disability, who can perform the primary duties of his or her job with that accommodation. It is up to the employee to request a reasonable accommodation — not up to the employer to offer it.

Call centers are notorious for not providing breaks to employees, because they want workers on the phone every minute. OSHA standards require that employees be permitted to use the restroom when nature calls, however, the call centers can and do establish certain performance criteria that are almost impossible to meet with frequent bathroom breaks.

Your friend has provided a laundry list of health problems, which is not helpful. It is hard to see how hernia, fibroid tumor or depression require drinking 10 glasses of water per day. So they are merely clouding the issue.

Your friend needs to request a specific reasonable accommodation under ADA, based on a documented disability. For example, she may request up to 10 unpaid bathroom breaks per day, due to her IBS. The employer will require that a doctor certify the IBS as a disability, and document the need to drink so much water (and therefore visit the bathroom.) If this accommodation is granted, your friend will still be responsible for meeting production goals for the time she works each day. However, if she takes 10 bathroom breaks each 6 minutes long, her paid work time will be reduced by 1 hour per day. So she will be responsible for 7 hours of production each day when she works from 8 am to 5 pm with an hour lunch, rather than 8 hours of production.

Your friend can certainly request that she be assigned to the day shift as a reasonable accommodation, but it is not clear that the employer has to grant it. When an accommodation is an undue hardship for the employer, meaning it disrupts the level of service to customers or is a big operational problem, then the employer can decline to grant it under ADA. Being assigned to the day shift all the time might very well be an undue hardship for the employer.

The bottom line is that your friends physical problems are at odds with working conditions in a call center. She needs to explore other career options as time allows, (and as the economy improves) because it will be a constant battle for her to meet their performance standards with her physical limitations.  

Drinking Water and Restroom Necessity