23 February 2012

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Pay US $ 1,458,335 to Maid US Judge Orders to Neena Malhotra Indian Diplomat

Pay US $ 1,458,335 to Maid US Judge Orders to Neena Malhotra Indian Diplomat

In year 2006 Shanti Gurung went to New York City to work as maid.
According to the court papers, Gurung came to the US at the “behest” of Neena and her husband Jogesh Malhotra and was promised a monthly salary of approximately $108 in exchange for “light cooking, light cleaning, and staffing the occasional house party.”



Shanti Gurung had accused her employer, Neena Malhotra, who at the time was "serving as the Counselor of Press, Culture, Information, Education, and Community Affairs at the Consulate General of India in Manhattan" of slavery
She said that she was not provided adequate boarding and made to “sleep on the floor” of the Malhotra’s three bedroom apartment.
She “often went hungry” as the Malhotras gave her leftovers to eat from the meals she had cooked.


In this case , she suffered following type of harassment

1. documents were seized

2. her travel was restricted

3. she was not permitted to telephone her family

4. was deprived of food

5. Physical abuse

6. Mental abuse

7. she was made to work daily 16 hours


US Magistrate Judge Frank Maas in his order recommended that Gurung be awarded judgment against the Malhotras in the amount of USD 1,458,335" because of their "barbaric treatment" of her while she was employed as their domestic worker and forced to work long hours without adequate compensation for three years.

Judge also said that Gurung’s compensation should also include $500,000 as damages for “emotional distress”.

The Malhotras returned to India before the lawsuit was filed.

Food for thought

If same thing happens in India how much fine a maid will get?

Rs 1000 or Rs. 10, 000 or no fine at all.

Indian Rs. 1000 = 20 to 21 USD

May be maid will never file a complaint fearing that she will lose other jobs and wont get anything in compensation.



Reality views by sm –

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Tags – India Diplomat Fined Slavery


10 comments:

dopdavid February 24, 2012  

wat does the first sentence say?

Khoty Mathur February 24, 2012  

Many have transitioned from treating maids badly and many have not. I've also read articles where the blogger mentions her home help turns up whenever she wants or not at all, is never happy with her diwali bonus or her salary and jumps ship if someone offers her more. At the same time, no one, east or west, even thinks of giving a maid a written contract. Is it time we middle to high income Indian women learnt to be just a bit more self sufficient?

Anonymous,  February 24, 2012  

sentencu . . . gujaal
khakra . . . gujaal
gujarat . . . gujaal machchaan.

Renu February 24, 2012  

what a shame! still there are many employers here too, I hope that maid gets the compensation judge ordered.

Content Hedgehog February 24, 2012  

That's quite a bit of money.... I suppose it could be more though.

sm February 24, 2012  

dopdavid,thanks.
KayEm,thanks.
Omnislash,thanks.
Sujatha Sathya,thanks.
Renu, thanks.
Nathan, thanks.
Anonymous,thanks.

Bikram February 24, 2012  

Well she is made for life then , the only thing is will she get all that money ..

Bikram's

SM February 24, 2012  

@Bikramjit

thanks.
Lets hope she will get paid.