Legal Victory Fuels Domestic Workers' Movement
New
Laura Goode, Josue Rojas
Oct 15, 2009
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=96aa3fefd77e61036bb836cc202373a0
SAN FRANCISCO -- Vilma Serralta, a 71-year-old
citizen born in
against her employers for labor abuses, strengthening a
growing movement of domestic workers.
During her four years of employment, Serralta alleges
that her employers, Sakhawat and Roomy Khan of
Atherton, Calif., paid her between $3 and $4 an hour to
work 14-hour days, six days a week, without breaks,
overtime pay or vacation time. Serralta also says that
she routinely endured verbal abuse and other
indignities that made for a hostile work environment.
"My job was very hard," Serralta said. "It was a really
big house, I would do all the housework and they would
really exploit me. one time they called me stupid, and
they would yell at me."
When Serralta was fired by the Khans in 2006, she
contacted Social Services to see if there were
resources available to her to take legal action. She
was referred to La Raza Centro Legal of
where co-counsel Hillary Ronen took on Serralta's case
and joined forces with senior staff attorney
Christopher Ho of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law
Center (LAS-ELC).
"I began to speak in public about this abuse because
they would pay me monthly, but they never paid me
overtime or holidays," Serralta said. "Employers should
not exploit us domestic workers."
As Serralta's lawyers began to build her case against
the Khans, the Khans' defense worked to call into
question Serralta's honesty and work ethic. However,
Serralta's team received a boon shortly before the case
would have gone to trial, when her lawyers demonstrated
that the Khans had fabricated critical evidence in
their defense case. As a result, the Khans were forced
to settle.
Lawyers declined to disclose the amount of the
settlement, but the lawsuit sought unpaid minimum and
overtime wages, penalties and damages.
Serralta's case represents a watershed moment in
organizing domestic workers to unite against labor
abuse.
"We were very pleased about the outcome, because
typically these cases aren't brought at all, and
because Vilma was brave enough to come forward," Ho
said. "She could well have been blacklisted by being in
the press and having her name associated with a
movement like the domestic worker movement as someone
who'd be too uppity for a lot of people who'd want to
hire, but she came forward despite that, and I think
that it is to her credit that this case has been able
to accomplish what it has."
Serralta's case was also unique partially because of
her
have rights under
more difficult for them to press charges. ICE can be an
intimidating force, Ho explained.
"It's obviously much harder to bring cases such as this
on behalf of people whose immigration status is
tenuous," he said. "There is more to be afraid of."
Ho continued, "Although the workplace laws both at the
federal and state level almost without exception are
exactly the same for undocumented workers as they are
for documented workers, the fact is that undocumented
workers are much more vulnerable to deportation, to
threats against themselves and their families."
According to Ho, even when undocumented workers are
brave enough to raise civil prosecution against their
employers, employers often initiate deportation
proceedings in retaliation. ICE runs independently of
the court system, so workers' ability to remain in the
Domestic workers can be a difficult community to
mobilize. They are often isolated in the homes in which
they work, they are often undocumented immigrants, and
they often don't know that they have legal rights
regardless of their immigration status.
Another obstacle to more domestic workers reporting
abuse can be many employers' use of the attachments
that household workers form with the children they look
after as tools of emotional manipulation, Ho explained.
Serralta was overcome with emotion when she remembered
her relationship with the Khans' daughter.
"You know I always cry, right? When people ask me about
the girl," Serralta said, choking back tears. "I loved
her, that girl, I still love her. She is always in my
thoughts, the girl. She was so beautiful. I would take
care of her, I did everything for her. They [the Khans]
didn't know if she got dressed, what she ate, nothing.
I was always taking care of her.I was like a mother."
Despite the emotional complexities of leaving the Khan
home, Serralta's fight has inspired other domestic
workers and organizers to follow her example.
"For us, Vilma Serralta's case is very important,
because this creates a great precedent at the
international and state levels and across movements,"
said Guillermina Catellanos, an organizer at the
Women's Collective of La Raza Centro Legal, and a
member of the National Domestic Worker
a driving force in the labor movement behind domestic
workers. "That is what we want employers to know-that
domestic work is dignified and should be recognized
like any other job."
The economic crisis has intensified the need for
domestic workers to organize in order to protect
themselves, Catellanos said.
"In these times of crisis, abuse in these types of work
just increases.There are many Vilmas locked up in
houses suffering what Vilma went through, and we want
to tell the entire world-don't let this happen to you.
Just like Vilma made this change, they can do it too."
Serralta intends to continue speaking out on the issue.
Next month, she'll be a featured speaker during a
convening of domestic workers, organized by NDWA.
Though the fight continues, Serralta's satisfaction
with the results thus far is apparent.
"We won," Serralta said, with quiet pride before the
press conference, raising a fist in the air. "We won,
and we came out victorious."
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