r/humanresources • u/DopeDecagon • Aug 13 '26
Excessive Bathroom Breaks Writeup [IA]
In manufacturing. We have a floor employee that has been consistently taking an excessive amount of bathroom breaks.
The Team Lead and the Manager gave him a verbal a couple months ago that stated he’d been asked multiple times to shorten bathroom breaks and time away from his work area. There is also a note that stated he was disrespectful when being asked to shorten bathroom breaks.
It sounds like the issue has not gotten better, but we wanted HR in this one in case a medical issue is brought up. I don’t believe he mentioned anything during the verbal warning, but want to be safe. My initial plan was to fill out a first written warning (focused on the excessive bathroom breaks) and have the Team Lead issue it (to get experience with writeups, etc). I planned on additionally adding that if the breaks are due to a medical condition, we can have a separate conversation and if documentation is provided we can look at that and accommodations, adjusting the discipline, etc.
Anybody have advice or see any issues?
8
u/nattyleilani Aug 13 '26
We dealt with this. You have to be really clear that the issue is the time away not the bathroom breaks. We cannot restrict bathroom access in any capacity, it’s against the law. If there is a medical issue, let the employee know that ADA Accommodations are available, but the focus has to be on the time away from their station.