No back pay for Indian maid kept in US illegally
Source: Agencies |
March 10, 2013, Sunday
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A HOTELIER'S widow in the United States who had been accused of cheating an Indian household servant out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and keeping her a virtual prisoner was found guilty Friday of knowingly keeping the woman in the country illegally - but won't have to pay her.
Annie George, whose husband died in a plane crash, had said she didn't know Valsamma Mathai was in the US illegally. George also said that she didn't mistreat Mathai during the five and a half years she worked in her home near New York state's capital, Albany.
Mathai had testified that she slept in a closet, worked long days without vacation, days off or sick time and wasn't allowed to leave the palatial mansion on a cliff overlooking the Mohawk River.
Prosecutors said George owed Mathai US$317,000, based on the minimum wage and overtime for the hours she worked. Mathai said she was paid only US$26,000.
But because the jury didn't find George guilty of keeping Mathai for financial gain, she won't be liable for the wages, said George's lawyer, Mark Sacco.
George, 40, was convicted of harboring an illegal immigrant. She faces a penalty of up to five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine at her July 9 sentencing. She remains free on bail.
Sacco noted the jury did not convict her of the more severe charge. "In many ways, Annie feels vindicated because what a lot of the reports were was that she mistreated this woman like a slave," Sacco said. "None of that was true."
The case surfaced when one of Mathai's sons in India, Shiju Mathai, called the National Human Trafficking Resources Center in 2011.
George testified that she was left in financial straits when her husband died in 2009. She said she knew nothing of his business dealings, including having Valsamma Mathai live with them.
Her late husband, Mathai George, was a native of India who built a hotel and real estate business in the US. He was killed along with his 11-year-old son and another man when their private plane crashed after takeoff.
Annie George, whose husband died in a plane crash, had said she didn't know Valsamma Mathai was in the US illegally. George also said that she didn't mistreat Mathai during the five and a half years she worked in her home near New York state's capital, Albany.
Mathai had testified that she slept in a closet, worked long days without vacation, days off or sick time and wasn't allowed to leave the palatial mansion on a cliff overlooking the Mohawk River.
Prosecutors said George owed Mathai US$317,000, based on the minimum wage and overtime for the hours she worked. Mathai said she was paid only US$26,000.
But because the jury didn't find George guilty of keeping Mathai for financial gain, she won't be liable for the wages, said George's lawyer, Mark Sacco.
George, 40, was convicted of harboring an illegal immigrant. She faces a penalty of up to five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine at her July 9 sentencing. She remains free on bail.
Sacco noted the jury did not convict her of the more severe charge. "In many ways, Annie feels vindicated because what a lot of the reports were was that she mistreated this woman like a slave," Sacco said. "None of that was true."
The case surfaced when one of Mathai's sons in India, Shiju Mathai, called the National Human Trafficking Resources Center in 2011.
George testified that she was left in financial straits when her husband died in 2009. She said she knew nothing of his business dealings, including having Valsamma Mathai live with them.
Her late husband, Mathai George, was a native of India who built a hotel and real estate business in the US. He was killed along with his 11-year-old son and another man when their private plane crashed after takeoff.
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