New York : An Indian-American CEO has been ordered to
pay USD 135,000 to her former domestic worker after a Labour Department
investigation found she underpaid and mistreated her.
Himanshu Bhatia, CEO of Rose International and IT Staffing, will
have to pay her former live-in domestic service worker back wages
and damages under the terms of a consent judgement entered into the
US District Court for the Central District of California.
The judgement, entered on April 11, resolves a complaint filed by
the US Department of Labour in August last year. An investigation
by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Bhatia willfully
and repeatedly violated federal labour laws’ minimum wage and record
keeping provisions from July 2012 to December 2014.
The complaint alleged that Bhatia paid her domestic service worker,
who had been identified in an earlier complaint as Sheela Ningwal,
a fixed monthly salary of USD 400 plus food and housing at Bhatia’s
home in San Juan Capistrano and other residences in Miami, Las Vegas
and Long Beach.
Investigators found that the employee suffered “callous abuse” and
retaliation, including being forced to sleep on a piece of carpet
in the garage when ill, while Bhatia’s dogs slept on a mattress nearby.
The complaint also alleged that Bhatia confiscated Ningwal’s passport.
Bhatia terminated the worker in December 2014 after she allegedly
found her employee researching labour laws online, and after the
worker refused to sign a document stating she was being paid an adequate
salary and had no employment dispute with Bhatia.
“This consent judgement underlines the department’s commitment to
protecting workers from exploitation,” said Janet Herold, solicitor
for the Department of Labour’s Western Region.
“The department will take strong and immediate action to ensure
that workers are protected against retaliation (Agencies)
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