A Jim Beam bourbon distillery plant in Clermont, Kent., is under fire because of a policy that limits the number of trips an employee can make to the restroom.

The policy helps maximize quality control and productivity while allowing employees a reasonable amount of restroom breaks.

Workers on the bottling line are restricted to four trips per 8-1/2 hour work shift. Three of the breaks are scheduled and the fourth can be taken at any time. Additional trips may lead to reprimands and after six violations employees may be fired.

Workers are allowed to use the restroom about every two hours and never have to wait more than three hours.

The local union, United Food and Commercial Workers, is complaining on behalf of about 100 employees who find the restrictions to be outrageous.

The union claims some of the employees have been incontinent in fear of being punished for leaving the line, whereas others wear protective undergarments, similar to diapers, to avoid leaving the line at all.

Union representatives are calling it a “shame” to make people choose between soiling themselves or securing their job. But the union has failed to mention what might cause a company to implement such a policy – workers abusing unlimited bathroom breaks.

The policy was put in place last October as a solution. It is the only policy of its kind in the company, so it is fair to say the workers brought this upon themselves. Those who did not abuse the original system should be upset with those who did, not management.

The policy sounds as if the company is causing harm to people’s bodies as an effort to increase already outrageous profits. There was a problem. In the business world when there is a problem, it has to be fixed.

And four trips to the restroom is plenty. The company consulted a urologist before putting the policy into effect. If an employee has a medical condition they can exempt themselves with a note from a physician.

There is not a good reason people should be urinating themselves or wearing diapers. If it is that bad, they can get out of it.

The workers and the union are simply complaining over something they need not complain about. The company has a reasonable policy and tolerates a number of violations.

Grade school teachers get even less of an opportunity to use the restroom at work, yet teachers wetting themselves is not a common occurrence, at least not to the point where it requires a national news story.

Perhaps name recognition is playing a bigger role in this complaint then anyone cares to mention. If Jim Beam were not Jim Beam, there would be no issue at all.