最近，美国芝加哥一家水龙头公司对19名员工做出“行政警告”处罚。原因竟是他们在10个工作日内如厕时间加起来超过60分钟。这意味着，这家公司的员工每天如厕超过6分钟，就要受罚。

对此，被罚员工忍无可忍，向美国劳工部门提出了投诉。

据悉，芝加哥节水水龙头公司从去年冬天开始在工厂一楼的洗手间安装刷卡系统，员工出入厕所都需要刷卡。公司也由此得以掌握员工上厕所的时间长度，并且列表统计。

芝加哥节水水龙头公司甚至还想出了鼓励员工缩短上厕所时间的奖励机制。

如果员工能够在工作时间内(既定的休息时间除外)不上厕所，每月可获得最高20美元的购物卡，相当于每天获得1美元的奖励。科斯顿表示，已经有几位员工成功获得了奖励。

Spend more than 6 minutes a day in the bathroom at Chicago's WaterSaver Faucet company and you'll face disciplinary measures。

That's what a union contends the manufacturer is pulling: timing bathroom breaks and warning employees when they can't beat the clock。

Teamsters local 743 filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming WaterSaver unfairly disciplined 19 workers in June for "excessive use" of washrooms。

The company's human resources department described "excessive use of the bathroom as ... 60 minutes or more over the last 10 working days," according to the affidavit. Do the math and it works out to 6 minutes a day。

The controversy goes back to last winter when WaterSaver installed swipe card systems on bathrooms located off the factory floor。

The company said it had little choice because some employees were spending way too much time in there, and not enough time on the manufacturing line。

WaterSaver's CEO, Steve Kersten, said 120 hours of production were lost in May because of bathroom visits outside of allotted break times。

To recoup lost hours, WaterSaver has adopted a rewards system where workers can earn a gift card of up to $20 each month ($1 a day) if they don't use the bathroom at all during work time. CEO Kersten said a few workers have already earned them。

He said that so far no one has been suspended or terminated, although warnings were issued. The company has a three step disciplinary process that starts with a verbal or written warning, which can then lead to a suspension, and finally a termination。

The union said monitoring bathroom time is an invasion of privacy。

"The company has spreadsheets on every union employee on how long they were in the bathroom," said Nick Kreitman, the union representative at WaterSavers. "There have been meetings with workers and human resources where the workers had to explain what they were doing in the bathroom," he said。

It's unreasonable given that the human body can't always perform on cue, Kreitman said. Besides, he pointed out that the company's 140 workers don't have paid sick days. Workers who can't afford to lose a day's pay come into work sick, and may end up using bathrooms more, he said。

Kersten said workers should be able to take care of most personal needs during the breaks the company gives them each day that total one hour. That's when workers have unlimited access to bathrooms without the electronic systems。

He said he understands people may have to use the bathroom outside of those breaks。

"No one is stopped from going to the bathroom," he said. But he believes workers might be spending time on their phones in the bathrooms。