Former SpaceX employee with Crohn’s disease sues Elon Musk for being fired over using bathroom frequently

A former employee of Elon Musk’s SpaceX is suing the corporate for allegedly firing him over frequent bathroom use attributable to a continual medical situation. According to The Independednt, Douglas Altshuler, 58, claims he was mistreated and in the end terminated due to Crohn’s disease — a gastrointestinal sickness that usually requires pressing and repeated visits to the bathroom.
Altshuler, who joined SpaceX in 2023, filed a federal lawsuit in California final week. In it, he says he wanted to make use of the bathroom each 35 to 45 minutes throughout his eight-hour shifts, generally as much as 14 occasions a day. According to the criticism, he supplied medical documentation to clarify his situation, however supervisors began monitoring the length of his rest room breaks and warned him to not exceed 10 minutes per go to.
He alleges he was threatened with termination if his bathroom use continued. When he requested administration for official lodging beneath incapacity rights, he claims the request was rejected as “unsubstantiated.” He was finally dismissed on grounds of “deficient performance,” which he believes was retaliation for each his situation and for reporting unsafe office practices.

Altshuler’s lawsuit additionally accuses SpaceX of denying him meal breaks, underpaying him, and exposing staff to unsafe situations. He described one incident the place machine components had been dried in the identical kitchen the place workers cooked meals.

The Mayo Clinic defines Crohn’s disease as a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes irritation and swelling within the tissues of the digestive tract.