A former Lenovo employee is suing his ex-employer for $1.5 million after he was fired for urinating in a public area of a New York City hotel, claiming he had no choice due to his chronic “bladder condition.”
Richard Becker, a 66-year-old former tech salesman at the China-based company, claimed in his suit, which the New York Post obtained, that he was fired without severance four days after he had to “discreetly urinate on the ground” inside the Westin New York’s “vestibule” because he could not make it to his room in time.
Becker had just left a business dinner — where he said he had to use the restroom five times — when he had the accident in the Times Square hotel and was spotted by a Lenovo executive in February 2023.
According to the complaint, the senior employee who witnessed the public urination reported it to company higher-ups “out of spite and malice.”
Becker claims that he has suffered from a bladder condition since 2016 that makes him urinate often and requires him to see a urologist, and he alleged that his coworkers “poked fun at him for how frequently he needed to use the bathroom.”
Now, he is suing the tech company for disability discrimination in the Manhattan Supreme Court.
“With knowledge of Becker’s bladder condition (a disability under the law), Lenovo summarily terminated Becker because he suffers from that condition, following an incident that had no impact on Becker’s job performance or Lenovo’s business,” the lawsuit, filed Friday, states.
While the former salesman claimed in the suit that he made it to a “vestibule” with a “column” that was located in “a deserted area located on a different floor from the lobby,” a Westin employee told the Post that there is no vestibule, and that the only places in the hotel that have columns are the first-floor entrance and the second-floor concierge desk.
The hotel worker also noted that the lobby has bathrooms.
Becker also complained in his suit that his public urination does not compare to “far worse conduct” by Lenovo employees, citing an incident in which drunk salespeople allegedly stuffed a coworker into a “toy vending machine” in 2021.
He added that he has been unable to find a new job since his termination a year and a half ago.
