A Taiwanese man sparked controversy on social media after complaining about getting a pay cut for spending too much time in the bathroom during work hours.
The disgruntled employee, identified only as ‘Mr. A.’, recently took to Facebook to voice his frustration and disappointment at having part of his monthly salary withheld by the company he works at, for having spent too much time in the bathroom the previous month. The man admitted to spending a whopping 49.5 hours in the toilet, which amounts to about two hours of bathroom time per day, but said that his employer failed to inform him that his wages could be cut for taking too long toilet breaks.
The Taiwanese man posted his story on the Blame 2 Commune Facebook Group, asking the other member for advice on how to proceed. He clarified that he had worked 22 days as an intern last month, for a total of 195 hours and an hourly salary of 160 yuan. However, on pay day, he noticed than about 4,400 yuan had been deducted, so he decided to take up the matter with human resources.
Mr. A was informed that according to internal CCTV footage, he had spent nearly 50 work hours in the bathroom throughout the previous month, and since management only allows one hour of bathroom time per day on average, 27.5 hours had been deducted from his salary.
“Okay, so I was in there for a long time, but does that mean that my money can be deducted indiscriminately?” the man asked, adding that the company had already threatened to let him go if he didn’t let the matter go.
The man said that he was considering reporting the matter to the Labor Bureau, but that his parents were against it and had told him to keep his head down and keep his job.
“If I can’t spend time in the bathroom, then I’ll just poop in my pants and stink up the whole office. I am really dumbfounded by all this,” Mr. A concluded his rant.
Photo: Marcel Gnauk/Pixabay
This bizarre case got mixed reactions on social media, with some people saying that they understand the employer’s decision, because 50 hours of monthly bathroom time during work hours is too much, and others supporting the man and encouraging him to report his employer to the authorities.
“The company has no money to send you to the toilet. Which company hires someone to sit in the toilet for 2 hours a day?” one person commented. “You work 8 hours a day, 22 days a month, which means you spend 6 days in the toilet, who wouldn’t deduct your salary?”
“If you stay in the toilet for 2 hours a day, I think the place you should go to is not the toilet, it’s the hospital,” someone else wrote.
Photo: Jasmine Sessler/Unsplash
But Mr. A did get some encouraging messages from people.
“There are people in our company who work eight hours a day and use the toilet for 3 hours, don’t take the salary deduction lying down.
Bathroom time during work hours has become somewhat of a big deal in Asia, particularly mainland China, with employers coming up with all sorts of ways of monitoring employees’ toilet visits and discouraging long bathroom breaks.
