Four Pinay nannies seeking legal help vs. wealthy boss over 'abuse'

Four Filipina nannies, two of them naturalized American citizens and two permanent residents, recently went to the Philippine Consulate General in New York to denounce a wealthy Long Island employer they claim made them and other Filipinas work 24 hours without overtime or holiday pay.

 

They also alleged being subjected to “horrendous verbal and psychological abuses” and “inhumane treatment.”

 

They want to know from the Consulate what legal action they can take.

 

The four met on Aug. 7 with Consul Bong Cariño, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals unit, at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue and detailed orally and in writing their complaints against a Glen Cove, N.Y. employer and her elderly mother.

 

They also want to put a stop to sending more Filipina helpers to the alleged abusive home by a Rego Park-based Filipino-owned placement agency.

 

They claimed all other agencies have already stopped providing workers to that family except for the Filipino agency.

 

The identities of the employers and the placement agency are withheld pending formal complaints filed against the employers.  

 

Nonetheless, the employer and the agency flatly denied the allegations of the nannies.

 

The agency even told the Filipino Reporter it will conduct its own investigation to get to the bottom of the nannies’ complaints.

 

The four Filipinas later visited the Reporter office, where they recounted their plight.

 

They also said they represent several other complainants, who are afraid to come out because they are undocumented.

 

Cariño told the Reporter the Consulate is now studying the complaints and “will endorse them to proper entities, including the Department of Labor and social service agencies. We will also assist them should their cases go all the way to the court.”

 

“We’ve heard and received their complaints and we have given them proper advice,” added Cariño.

 

“We will also endorse them to an NGO group. The Consulate is helping to actively campaign against errant employers, as well as those placement agencies who continuously place Filipino workers at the hands of these employers.”

 

The consul assured the nannies that even those without legal papers will get equal help under the same labor standards and procedures.

 

Cariño said the Labor Department may come into the picture because the employers allegedly did not pay U.S. taxes because the Filipinas were paid off the book, as claimed by the complainants.

 

“The nannies come and go in that house because of so much abuses,” said Minda Lagassy, 58, a retired government employee who hails from Samar province.

 

She lived in Maine with her American husband, but moved to Jersey City, N.J. to look for work.

 

Lagassy stayed with the Long Island employer for two years before quitting.

 

“I needed the money badly that’s why I stayed for as long as I can,” she said.

 

“I did the housekeeping, the laundry and even taking care of the kids (with ages 7 and 4).”

 

“There were times I got deprived of sleep taking care of the kid, but I didn’t get paid for working overtime and yet they would yell at me all the time,” Lagassy shared.

 

“Parang nababasag lagi ang tenga ko sa kasisigaw sa nila akin eh ang lapit-lapit lang namin sa isa’t isa.”

 

The last straw came on July 12 when, Lagassy claimed, the employer chewed her out for not liking the grilled cheese prepared by another nanny.

 

“It’s like they’re always finding an alibi to curse and verbally abuse us,” Lagassy said, “and when I couldn’t take it anymore I answered back and then quit. Until now I couldn’t believe that such abusive people exist. The husband could see all the abuses by his wife and his mother-in-law, but I have no idea why he’s tolerating it. He didn’t do anything to at least try to stop it.”

 

Jean Perera, 52, a former public school teacher from Bukidnon, said she was paid $150 a day for the two weeks she stayed there, but had to endure all kinds of mistreatment.

 

“During my interview, the woman asked me about my documents and when I said I’m an American citizen with a U.S. visa, she said ‘that’s weird for a Filipino to have a U.S. passport,’” Perera recalled.

 

“Then I was told my work hours will be from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., but it never happened,” added Perrera, who temporary lives in Jamaica, N.Y., and whose husband is in the U.S. Navy based in Elk Ridge, Maryland.

 

“She would always say she paid good money and would insult us to no end. We’re not even allowed to cook because they said Filipino food doesn’t smell good, but they would not provide us decent food except for junk food like burgers that are usually leftovers of the kids. I always had migraines whenever I’m hungry that’s why my health suffered during my stay there.”

 

Aurelia de Guzman, 72, a midwife from Lingayen, Pangasinan, said she developed ulcers in the five weeks that she worked there.

 

“They didn’t treat me as a human being,” said de Guzman, who said she was fired for no apparent reason.

 

“They didn’t allow us to cook or bring our own food, but they wouldn’t provide us healthy food like vegetables which I need for my age.”

 

“How could we work and function if we’re hungry,” de Guzman added.

 

Rebecca Darheim, 65, of Glen Cove, said she was always accused by the employer’s mother of stealing whenever she couldn’t find something.

 

When the kids would make up stories and complain, the grandmother would turn hysterical and curse and villify them.

 

“They called me stupid, dumb, fool,” she said, “all kinds of words that are hard to stomach.”

 

In two years as a live-in nanny and housekeeper, Darheim, a native of Guimaras Island, said she was never allowed to use the washing machine or make coffee for herself.  

 

She said she tried to tolerate the abuses because she needed money for her ailing German-American husband, who is undergoing treatment in the Philippines.

 

“We had to change clothes everyday because we were required to wear a uniform,” Darheim noted.

 

“They wanted us to be in uniform at all times, but they didn’t provide us uniform or money to buy one so we had to provide for our own uniform.”

 

The four said the family also loved to throw parties and would require them to work for long hours until at night, but wouldn’t pay them for the extra work. - Filipino Reporter