Work in the US but under Conditions of a Developing Country

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http://watchingamerica.com/News/230602/work-in-the-us-but-under-conditions-of-a-developing-country/



Behind the recent case of the Indian vice-consul in New York, who was thrown out of the U.S. after being accused of lying during the processing of a visa in order for her Indian domestic employee to live in the country and of paying lower than minimum wage, hides a profound and old problem about the violation of labor conditions for these workers.

Work in the US but under Conditions of a Developing Country
El País, Spain
By Joan Faus
Translated By Cydney Seigerman
17 January 2014
Edited by Kyrstie Lane

Viewed from afar, one might think that for a household employee from a developing country coming to the United States to work for a diplomat would provide a great professional and personal experience. For many, this is definitely true, but for others, the real outlook is much worse than imagined and their experience can become a real-life hell from which it is very difficult to escape. Behind the recent case of the Indian vice-consul in New York, who was thrown out of the U.S. after being accused of lying during the processing of a visa in order for her Indian domestic employee to live in the country and of paying lower than minimum wage, hides a profound and old problem about the violation of labor conditions for these workers.

The numbers are alarming. In the last decade, 21 judicial proceedings dealing with human trafficking have been registered against foreign diplomats or workers in international organizations in the U.S., according to data from the Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Care Center. The Center is a civil organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C., that legally assesses those foreign domestic workers. The cases go beyond not respecting minimum wage — which can follow a different judicial path from that for the treatment of people — and deal with accusations from not paying employees anything to making them work long hours, not giving them a bed or verbally or physically threatening them. In these 21 accounts, all of the victims are foreign women and the majority of those accused come from developing countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Qatar or Kuwait. Also from India. In fact, Vice-Consul Devayani Khobragade, whose detention a month ago infuriated New Delhi and let loose a thorny crisis with Washington, is the third Indian diplomat settled in New York who has been accused in recent years of exploiting domestic employees.

The civil entities predict that the real figures related to abuse are much higher because the majority of workers do not dare denounce their superiors out of fear of suffering reprisals. In fact, they live under a vulnerable situation and under maximum dependency, because their U.S. visas are completely linked to those of their employers. "If they leave their jobs, they lose their permission to live in the U.S., and they do not want to stay without papers for fear of being deported," warned Martina E. Vandenberg, president and founder of the Pro Bono Legal Center, in a telephone conversation.* "It’s very difficult for them to denounce it, because they are isolated, live with their employers and many do not know English nor are they familiar with how the judicial system functions," added Avaloy Lanning, director of Safe Horizon's program against human trafficking. Safe Horizon managed the legal prosecution for Sangeeta Richard, the Indian vice-consul's worker.*

Richard abandoned these fears and difficulties and had enough courage to ask for help in order to denounce the exploitation that she was suffering. Seven months after arriving in New York in November of 2012, she decided to run away from Khobragade's house, tired of proving that the vice-consul did not pay the agreed amount. In July, Richard contacted Safe Horizon, who helped her begin the proceedings against the vice-consul. According to the indictment, in the visa form for her employee Khobragade said that she would pay a salary of $9.75 per hour — in accordance with American legislation — when in reality she paid 30,000 rupees monthly, which would be around $3.33 if one worked 40 hours a week. The victim, however, worked 100 hours per week, without days off, meaning that her salary was slightly more than $1 per hour. In India, minimum wage is $1.80 per day. As such, the standard salary per hour is definitively less than that in America. Additionally, the domestic employee's passport was retained and her family in India was pressured so that she would retract the accusations. Now, since the vice-consul's return to New Delhi, the judicial process has been paralyzed and everything indicates that it will remain so indefinitely. At the moment, U.S. authorities have given Richard a special residency visa given to victims of human trafficking, which does not have an expiration date