December 21, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:%20%5Bdehai-news%5D%20%28ACLU.org%29%20ACLU%20Defends%20Ethiopian%20Woman%20Kept%20in%20Forced%20Labor%20in%20New%20Jersey&[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
NEWARK, NJ-The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit on
behalf of an Ethiopian woman who was brought to the United States and forced
to work without pay as a live-in domestic and childcare worker for a New
Jersey couple, in violation of state, federal and international laws.
"Immigrant women are all too often brought to this country under false pretenses and coerced by employers into working for little or no pay," said Claudia Flores, a staff attorney with the ACLU Women?s Rights Project. "It is unacceptable that large populations of immigrant workers are being subjected to conditions of labor that amount to modern forms of slavery."
*In the complaint filed today, Beletashachew Chere, 30, said **that she was recruited in Ethiopia in 2001* *by Fesseha Taye and his wife Alemtashai Girma. *
*
*The couple offered Chere employment as a domestic worker in their New Jersey
home for a salary of $100 per month plus room and board. When Chere arrived
in the United States, her employers took her identification documents,
including her passport, and she was prevented from using the phone or
contacting anyone outside of the home. She was also prevented from seeking
medical attention and was only allowed to attend church services twice under
the supervision of her employers, despite being a deeply religious woman.
According to the ACLU lawsuit, Chere was kept under conditions of
involuntary servitude for almost one and a half years-working for as much as
100 hours per week for no pay. Chere?s responsibilities included serving as
the primary caretaker for the couple?s toddler, cooking for the family,
cleaning and maintaining the home, doing the family?s laundry and cleaning
the exterior of the house and driveway. She was not given any food other
than leftovers and bread and water and was forced to sleep on the floor of
the child?s bedroom.
The lawsuit charges that Taye and Girma kept Chere in a constant state of
fear by repeatedly telling her that she would be in great danger and that
people would try to harm her if she left the home. The lawsuit also charges
that Chere was verbally and psychologically abused by the couple. Girma
repeatedly called Chere her "punching bag" and told her she was "stupid" and
that she had nowhere to go. According to the lawsuit, Chere found the
conditions so intolerable that on several occasions, she begged her
employers to send her back to Ethiopia. Her pleas were ignored.
Chere?s family made repeated attempts to contact her at the home, but their
calls were disconnected by Girma and Taye. Chere said that the couple forced
her to write a letter to her family asking them not to call or write any
more letters. But concerned family members continued to attempt to contact
her. In March 2003, Chere received a letter from her family instructing her
to contact her maternal uncle in Chicago if she needed assistance. The next
month, when Girma and Taye took a weekend trip to Washington, DC and left
Chere under the supervision of Moggas Taye, the defendant?s brother, she
called her uncle?s family while Taye was sleeping and informed them of the
situation. The uncle immediately arranged for a local friend to pick her up.
Chere stayed with the friend until her uncle arrived in New York. He then
drove her to Chicago where she remains today.
"The laws of New Jersey and the United States, as well as international law,
protect all workers, including immigrants," said Andrew Fields, adjunct
professor and staff attorney with the CUNY School of Law International
Women?s Human Rights Clinic. "We hope this case sends a message to employers
that abuse will not be tolerated and that immigrant women must be paid and
treated in accordance with the law."
Today?s lawsuit seeks damages for Chere under federal law, including the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; state law, including the New Jersey minimum wage and overtime laws; and international law, including treaty and customary international law prohibitions against trafficking in persons, enslavement, and forced labor.
The lawsuit was filed in the District of New Jersey. In addition to Flores and Fields, attorneys for Chere are ACLU Women's Rights Project Director Lenora Lapidus, Baher Azmy of the Seton Hall Law School Civil Litigation Clinic, and ACLU of New Jersey Legal Director Ed Barocas.
The complaint is available online at:
http://www.aclu.org/WomensRights/WomensRights.cfm?ID=17226&c=33 <http://www.aclu.org/WomensRights/WomensRights.cfm?ID=17226&c=33>
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