They just couldn’t go with the flow.
A former computer executive suffering from severe bladder problems insists his former company wrongfully fired him because he peed in the lobby of a Times Square hotel after a business meeting while being observed by a horrified supervisor, according to a new lawsuit.
Richard Becker, a former salesman at Lenovo, claims in his $1.5 million lawsuit that he was unable to get back to his room at the Westin New York and instead had no choice but to “discreetly urinate on the floor” in the hotel’s “anteroom.”
The 66-year-old said he used the restroom five times during the business dinner, but was “overwhelmed” by his bladder condition on the way back to the hotel and had to do the rest of his business in public on the Westin floor.
However, he was not “discreet” enough and was caught doing his business by another Lenovo employee, who reported his behavior to the company’s bosses. Becker says he did it “out of spite and malice.”
Four days later, Becker was fired without notice or severance pay, even though the company knew full well that he had been suffering from a long-standing bladder disease.
Now he is suing Lenovo for discrimination based on his disability, according to court documents filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“Knowing that Becker had a bladder disorder (which is a disability under the law),” the lawsuit states, “Lenovo terminated Becker without notice because he suffered from that disorder, following an incident that did not affect Becker’s job performance or Lenovo’s business.”
In court documents, Becker portrays himself as a veteran of the computer sales industry and has excelled as Lenovo’s Global Account Sales Executive since being hired in 2022, winning awards – including a trip to Costa Rica – and achieving 200 percent business growth.
And since 2016, he has also suffered from a chronic illness that forces him to urinate frequently and requires him to see a urologist on a regular basis. Becker’s lawsuit states that his colleagues were so aware of the problem that they “made fun of him for having to go to the bathroom so often.”
But during a business trip that took him and colleagues to the Westin in Times Square last February, he claims that his bladder weakness caught him by surprise on the way back to the hotel from a restaurant twelve blocks away.
Becker only made it “as far as the hotel’s anteroom,” his lawsuit states, “a deserted area on a different floor than the lobby.”
“At this point, embarrassed, panicked and in the face of the emergency, Becker had no choice but to discreetly urinate on the floor behind a pillar in the anteroom.”
He claims he didn’t see anyone, but a vice president of Lenovo saw him peeing and immediately informed the computer human resources department.
Four days later, according to the lawsuit, Becker was fired without even being asked about his point of view.
However, a Westin employee told The Post that there is no room called a “vestibule” and that the only public areas of the hotel with columns are either the first-floor entrance or the second-floor concierge desk.
In addition, there are toilets in the lobby, the employee said.
Despite repeated efforts, Becker or his lawyer could not be reached.
In his lawsuit, he also claims that his peeing problem, which “Lenovo viewed as a result of his disability,” pales in comparison to “far worse behavior” he cites, such as when drunken Lenovo salespeople stuffed a co-worker into a “toy vending machine” in an infamous 2021 incident.
Becker says he has not found a new job since being fired. His lawsuit seeks at least $1.5 million in damages.
Lenovo did not respond to a request for comment.
