Oh, that piece of paper? California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman now says her husband might have seen the letter at the center of the illegal worker allegations. A former housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, claims Whitman and her husband knew she lacked the right papers to work in the U.S., but kept her on the job any way.
For the past two days, the GOP nominee said her husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, have said they never received a letter from the Social Security Administration, warning them of this problem. Whitman said she's even willing to take a polygraph test to prove it. Then today, she told KNX radio in L.A. that she suspects writing on the letter is her husband's. (Read: he probably knew what was happening all along).
Gloria Allred, Santillan's lawyer, will be on the show tonight to discuss the latest developments.
This scandal is adding more to Whitman's plate. A new Spanish-language TV attack ad slams the candidate for her stances on undocumented immigrants, and then employing one for nine years.
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Thank you Lawrence for the BEST coverage of Whitman's lies told over the last two days. I taped that part of the show to play for my friends who are following the Whitman scandal, but they were not able to tune in.
Wish you had more time to go over things with Gloria Allred, but great you had her on the show.
By the way, whether or not Nicky was undocumented is NOT the issue. The issue is did Whitman abuse this person by, among other things, violating numerous provisions of California's Labor Code. Specifically:
1. Failing to pay wages earned.
2. Failing to pay overtime.
3. Maybe failing to pay minimum wage.
4. Failing to provide workers' compensation insurance.
5. Failing to provide meals and breaks.
6. Failing to reimburse the employee for expenses the employee incurred when having to use her personal vehicle to cart around Whitman's kids and run Meg's errands.
7. Since Whitman mentioned properly filling out a 1099 form, it sounds like she was also illegally classifying the employee as an independent contractor, this to avoid paying employment taxes! (A 1099 is what one gives independent businesses. It's NOT what you give people who are really your employees.)
If Whitman was improperly classifying Nicky as an independent contractor, that means she was also lying about taking all the proper taxes and deductions out of Nicky's pay. This sounds about right since if Whitman was taking out taxes from the paltry $345 weekly she was paying, Nicky would have been getting even less money per week.
Anyway, Whitman is trying to keep the issue focused on "did I know if she was undocumented" issue because if people focus on the "slave wages" issue, people believe she is truly Leona Helmsley reincarnate.
Bottom line for Whitman, if an employee is undocumented that does not mean she gets to cheat the employee out of wages and engage in abusive labor tactics. The Labor Code protects all workers, not just U. S. citizens. (Interestingly, in the 1930s-1950s many of the California's Labor Code provisions were enacted because of employer abuses of undocumented workers, mostly Mexicans who worked in the field picking fruits and vegetables.)
When an "illegal" is crossing the street, Whitman is not entitled to drunk drive and run him down. She is still going to be prosecuted, regardless of the pedestrian's legal status or if his papers are not in order. So too did the Labor Code apply to Whitman employing Nicky the housekeeper/nanny.
Meg Whitman is a black-hearted, mean-spirited woman. What a small person, she is a billionaire taking advantage of the housekeeper. I would trust the latina before I would trust the pasty white woman.