I Have To Urinate In A Garbage Can, Essex County Jail Worker Claims In Discrimination Lawsuit

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An employee with the Essex County Department of Corrections is suing the county, alleging that she has faced discriminatory treatment after taking time off work to have surgery – including having to urinate in a garbage can.

Keisha Ruffin, a Plainfield resident and a purchasing agent with the agency, named the county, the department of corrections and her supervisor in her lawsuit earlier this week.

According to the lawsuit, Ruffin – who has health issues including severe asthma – began working for the corrections department around 2008. She has undergone five surgeries over the past 10 years, and requires medication to control her medical conditions, which can’t be taken on an empty stomach.

Ruffin took a work leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, helping to train another woman to replace her while she was away. However, after returning to the job, she was reassigned and stripped of her original duties – essentially being “demoted,” the lawsuit claims.

Ruffin alleges that she was then assigned to a new, smaller workspace that lacks proper ventilation and isolates her from the rest of her co-workers. The new workspace is also located further from the cafeteria, which has created a burden for Ruffin, who has a surgically repaired ankle.

After she filed an internal grievance in 2023, Ruffin claims that she was retaliated against, with her supervisor and some co-workers making derogatory comments and ignoring her.

According to Ruffin, she is forced to take a frequently out-of-use elevator or hobble down a set of stairs to reach the nearest accessible bathroom – which is “difficult and painful.”

Instead, she’s been urinating into a small garbage can in her workplace, the lawsuit states.

Ruffin alleges that she has also been denied holiday pay, had time-off requests ignored, and is facing daily ridicule. She claims the situation is giving her anxiety, depression and panic attacks, one of which required a trip to the hospital last year.

According to Ruffin, her medical conditions qualify her for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

She is seeking punitive damages and injunctive relief, as well as lawyer and court fees.

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