Stop Allowing the Wealthy to Treat Undocumented Immigrants Like Slaves
Published on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 by The Guardian
Stop Allowing the Wealthy to Treat Undocumented Immigrants Like Slaves
Another wealthy New Yorker is on trial for abusing her maid, a reminder that domestic workers have few rights
by Sadhbh Walshe
Last week a wealthy New York widow, Annie George, went on trial for allegedly keeping an undocumented immigrant as a virtual prisoner in her home for over 5 years.
The victim, Valsamma Mathai, testified that she was forced to work long hours with no vacation or sick days, had to sleep in a closet and was not allowed to leave the mansion. George was ultimately found guilty of knowingly keeping the woman in the country illegally and may face up to five years in prison for that charge. She was spared from having to pay her the $317,000 that federal prosecutors calculated Mathai was owed based on the minimum wage and overtime hours she worked, but may have to pay a fine of up to $250,000. What the future holds for Mathai is uncertain.
George is not the first wealthy individual accused of needlessly mistreating and underpaying a domestic employee. In 2008, Varsha and Mahender Sabhani, a millionaire couple from Long Island, were both convicted and sentenced to prison time for keeping two Indonesian women in slave conditions for years. In addition to being paid next to nothing and forced to sleep on mats on the floor, the women were beaten, burnt with cigarettes and scalding water, cut with a knife and on one occasion forced to swallow hot chili peppers. While these kinds of socialite/slave brutality stories tend to grab our attention because they make great headlines, the true extent of abuse of domestic workers and the almost complete lack of protection afforded them under our current labor laws tends to go unnoticed.
Mathai's case came to the attention of law enforcement when her son called the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC)'s hotline. According to the NHTRC's data, the most frequently reported labor trafficking calls by far to their hotline are about cases of domestic servitude. As Bradley Myles, the NHTRC's executive director, says:
"Trafficking tends to thrive when a particular trafficker or individual perceives a low degree of risk and they can make some sort of financial gain either by making a profit or saving costs."
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/13-10
= new reply since forum marked as read
