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Ex-housekeeper sues Kenyan diplomat over pay in California

Ex-housekeeper sues Kenyan diplomat over pay in California
Ex-housekeeper sues Kenyan diplomat over pay in California

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A former housekeeper sued a Kenyan consular official this week alleging she took her passport, told her not to leave the house without permission and paid her a fraction of what she was promised after bringing her to work in Los Angeles.

Aqulina Mwelu George, 24, filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles late Monday seeking six months of back pay and damages from her former boss, according to a copy of the lawsuit.

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The suit alleges that consular officialย Angela Soila Kasaineย agreed to payย Georgeย $9.27 an hour to care for her daughter and perform housework in a contract filed last year with the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi when she applied for her visa.

Once she got here,ย Georgeย claims she was offered only $300 a month even though she worked 11 hours a day every day.

โ€œItโ€™s a situation that is sort of ripe for abuse, where you have people bringing in generally staff from their own countries, unfamiliar with their rights,โ€ saidย Kevin Kish, an attorney with Bet Tzedek Legal Services who is representingย George.

A woman who answered a telephone listed forย Kasaineย hung up Wednesday when called by The Associated Press.

It isnโ€™t the first time a domestic worker has accused a diplomat in the U.S. of failing to pay them. In New York, an Indian deputy consul general was indicted on visa-fraud charges for allegedly telling the U.S. government she was paying her housekeeper $4,500 a month while actually paying her less than $3 per hour in a highly publicized criminal case that roiled relations between the two countries.

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According to a copy of the California civil lawsuit,ย Georgeย was promised free room and board in the United States and an eight-hour workday. After arriving here in May,ย Georgeย claimsย Kasaineย told her โ€œpeople in the United States were badโ€ and that she should not speak to them, the lawsuit alleges.

In November,ย Georgeย confrontedย Kasaineย and was thrown her passport and told to leave.ย Georgeย called a State Department hotline, and police were sent to retrieve her documents, the lawsuit said.

Since then,ย Georgeย has been housed at a local shelter for survivors of human trafficking, said Sabrina Wong, a spokeswoman for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking.

Georgeย is seeking $21,000 in back pay and also damages,ย Kishย said.

Source-washingtontimes.com

 

 

Ex-housekeeper sues Kenyan diplomat over pay in California

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