Nicandra Diaz-Santillan, Whitman's 'Undocumented' Former Maid: Candidate Never Asked For Papers (UPDATE)

UPDATE: 2:42 p.m. ET -- Meg Whitman knowingly employed an undocumented worker through 2009, according to attorney Gloria Allred.

Nicandra Diaz-Santillan, the employee, sat next to Allred during a press conference Wednesday and tearfully detailed her experience as a housekeeper for Whitman.

Allred told reporters that her client was paid for just 15 hours of work per week, despite working past those hours. Allred claimed that when Whitman hired her client, she never asked if she was in the country legally. She also said that her client had been "exploited, disrespected, humiliated, and emotionally and financially abused."

"Nicki" told reporters that when Whitman let her go, the Republican candidate for governor said, "I don't know you, and you don't know me."

Allred refused to answer a reporter's question about whether her client would face deportation after coming forward.

As the LA Times reports:

"I told her I don't have papers to work here and need her help," the worker said at a press conference in attorney Gloria Allred's office. Whitman's husband "was very angry and said, 'I told you, I told you she was going to bring us problems.' Ms. Whitman turned to him and said, 'Calm down, calm down.' " She said Whitman's husband "yelled" at her. "I was crying for fear and intimidation. With a face full of tears, I told them, 'I believe in people. And I believe people deserve a chance. I also told them I don't wish them any harm. I just wanted their help.

-----

Could this be "Maidgate" 2010 for California GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman?

Gossip site TMZ reports Wednesday that the former housekeeper of the one-time eBay CEO plans to make "explosive" allegations against Whitman in a live news conference coming later at 11 AM PT. The maid is supposedly planning "to tell how she suffered as a long-time, Latina household employee in Meg Whitman's home."

The maid's lawyer? Gloria Allred, the high-profile Hollywood attorney that represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family in the 1990s. More recently, however, Allred represented Amanda J. Eneman, the ex-girlfriend of Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Scott Lee Cohen, whose comments about the Democratic candidate's behavior helped push him from the race in early 2010.

Meg Whitman's campaign chairman, former California Governor Pete Wilson, reacted to news of the allegations Wednesday, telling TMZ that he is unaware of any claim by Whitman's former housekeeper, but noting that "The timing of this is highly suspect."

Whitman could be open to charges of hypocrisy based on her tough stances on illegal immigration and undocumented workers, as described on her campaign Website:

"We need to build an 'Economic Fence' with a strong e-verification system that holds employers accountable for following the law, according to her own campaign Website. We are never going to solve the problem of illegal immigration as long as there is strong demand for undocumented labor."

Whitman also supports workplace inspections by state and local law enforcement agencies "modeled after drug seizure raids" -- in which first-time offenders who are found to employ undocumented workers "will be required to pay a fine and have their business license suspended for 10 days."

Comments

[CessnaDriver]

04:23 PM on 10/01/2010

Meggie committed insurance fraud, tax fraud or both.

The documentation shows that Ms. Diaz was paid 17,990 in 2002.

17, 900 divided by 52 weeks divided by $23 an hour is 15.04 hours per week.

Meggie said Ms. Diaz was responsible to bring in the mail. Mail comes six days a week. That works out to 2.5 hours per day. 

If Ms. Diaz worked 5 days a week, she was only paid for 3 hours per day.

Ms. Allred stated that Ms. Diaz worked up to 50 hours per week, and the Harsh family made her pay for their expenses out of  Ms. Diaz after-tax money.

Worker compensation and unemployment insurance are based on the number of hours worked. 

That's fraud in the real world.

Question to conservatards: Still think it's all the maid's fault?

[jk2001]

02:50 AM on 10/02/2010

So she's wokring 50 but paid for 15? She's owed 25 hours of straight time and 10 hours of overtime... for a net of 40 straight hours pay per week. Times 52 weeks, times 9 years. That's around $360,000.

In CA we bust employers for triple damages. So she's owed over a $1,000,000!

I hope Nicandra wins! I'm sure she won't care about being deported then.

[End of an ERROR 2013]

09:01 AM on 10/02/2010

you're just embarrassing yourself..........

[Sundiszno]

08:08 PM on 09/30/2010

Republicans, double standard is thy name.

[Peter Mazzoni]

07:38 PM on 09/30/2010

Odd Puffpost has yet to post a link to the letter in which the Soc. Sec states "this letter makes no statement about your employee's immigration status."

So the left will do anything to support Gov.Moon beam and his radical agenda. I wouldn't expect anything less from a den of thieves.

[tecpatl]

10:42 PM on 09/30/2010

Why don't you take responsibility for your own life and just Google it or go to TMZ and download it? Is it just easier for you to blame "the left"?

[Zork4]

11:24 PM on 09/30/2010

Jerry Brown is about as radical as Arnold Schwartzennegger. Governor Moonbeam is a decades old slur which has no relation to current reality. What policies of Brown's do you object to?

[CessnaDriver]

04:26 PM on 10/01/2010

Moonbeamism: "I dream of things as they should be and ask 'why not'".

Therefore, moonbeamism is a good thing.

[jk2001]

02:51 AM on 10/02/2010

They called him "moonbeam" because he wanted to buy a com-sat for the state of CA. What a way-out, wacky idea, huh?

[Howzat]

06:26 PM on 09/30/2010

She wants to buy the Governorship.

I suggest she puts herself up on EBAY for the position and see how many bidders make hits for her to take office.

Starting bids $0.99 or B.O.

[zanzy]

12:33 AM on 10/03/2010

Maybe Meg will put her mansion on ebay, after the people of California run her out of town.

[TallThinMan]

05:06 PM on 09/30/2010

YOU WON'T FIND OUT THAT INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE CHELENE NIGHTINGALE HIRED AN UNDOCUMENTED WORKER OR OWES ANY FAVORS TO BIG UNIONS LIKE BROWN....
Democrat OR Republican...California's in trouble
CHELENE NIGHTINGALE FOR GOV!!!

[CessnaDriver]

04:27 PM on 10/01/2010

Spam.

I call Saddam a bad yiddish word and get censored, and this gets through?

[JShankel]

03:10 PM on 09/30/2010

To everyone who thinks it's some big "gotcha" talking point that Democrats "suddenly" want employers to check papers, um, you do realize that employers have had to verify work eligibility for employees for decades and that no one on any side of the immigration debate has ever had any problem with this, yes?

I mean, I do realize that one would have to have been gainfully employed in the United States at some time in the past 40 years to know this, so I can see why many of you are confused, but really no one has ever had a problem with this at all.  It's not the same thing as the cops detaining you for jogging without a wallet while Mexican.

[janvoght]

02:48 PM on 09/30/2010

She wants to be the first woman to "BUY" a Govenorship. California needs a REAL leader, not someone who believes outsourcing is the path to success.

[sarabono]

02:04 PM on 09/30/2010

The Employment Agency has the responsibility to vet the legality of people they send out for employment not the direct employer. It is the responsibility or the Employment Agency to run the lady through INS.

She provided to Meg W. a Social Security number and Meg provided the proper 1099's.

End of story.

[samidean]

02:33 PM on 09/30/2010

WRONG!

[Disdain]

03:45 PM on 09/30/2010

I'm curious. If Whitman filed the appropriate tax form and paid the necessary taxes based on the paperwork submitted by the maid, how is she at fault?

[JShankel]

02:57 PM on 09/30/2010

The allegation is that Mz. Whitman was notified in 2003 that she was employing an illegal and ignored the notification.

That's the allegation.

[Peter Mazzoni]

07:44 PM on 09/30/2010

And the letter states the following Soc. Sec states "this letter makes no statement about your employee's immigration status."

So who is dropping the Ball, Meg for doing everything she was legally supposed to when it came to Nikki? Could it be State of CA for issuing a driver license on fraudulent credentials? ICE for not having an audit of the employment agencies applications? Could it be the Soc Security Admin for not stating no immigration status at all?

How about we blame Nikki for entering the US illegally, using fake ID to get a driver license, driving with an illegal ID. Lets hold her accountable for perjury for lying on an I-9, and other documents where she of sound mind stated she was here legally. So Nikki is the culprit and the victims of her own actions.

[conticreative]

03:21 PM on 10/01/2010

let me add this corollary to the allegation: regardless of what the real issue is, a lot of people will dislike Whitman for the way she discarted her maid regardless of her immigration status.

There is no way that Whitman or her husband would not know in 9 years that her maid was illegal. Illegal immigrants live a life of fear and subterfuge that affects the way they behave. Some flee at the sight of the Meter reader in uniform. For her to ignore the warning signs (and the letters, of course) is unthinkable.

Except that as long as she was a private citizen it didn't matter to her and it was a way maybe to save a buck but I am sure also to have a reliable person in charge of the household.

The fact that she discarted her like old junk is what makes her a heartless opportunist.
I am glad this thing came out. I hope it sinks her campaign and I Have to confess that I'll be just a bit glad about the $120 mil she sunk in it.

[Danmolaijn]

02:02 PM on 09/30/2010

Maidgate?

I vote the next person to coin (anything)gate gets punched in the face.

[CessnaDriver]

02:16 PM on 09/30/2010

Pugilismgate!

[2farleft]

02:10 PM on 10/01/2010

Pugilism : The theft of another mans' ego !

2farleft

[mvaldivia32]

02:31 PM on 09/30/2010

Meximaidgate

[monthofmay]

01:55 PM on 09/30/2010

A housekeeper and nanny to a wealthy family for 9 years is on very intimate terms with the household. This is not doing yard work every 2 weeks. I used to be a nanny and the children often called me "mother". I would buy them shoes because their old shoes pinched their feet and their parents were "too busy". Ask anyone who has cared for children like that about the way they are taken for granted, asked to work on days off...the list is endless.
If Whitman didn't know her nanny was illegal here, she SHOULD have known...she has no excuse here. Her best bet is to admit she couldn't find an American woman who would let herself be treated that way, so she got one who would. And that means a scared illegal who won't dare say "no" or stand up for herself.
This situation is obvious for what it is...

[2farleft]

01:43 PM on 09/30/2010

I have worked in Atherton , Los Altos Hills , Hillsborough , 'Pac-Heights' Sea-cliff ; on the job for weeks and left without ever meeting the home-owner!
Bills were paid on time ; 'change-orders' faxed ; sometimes from over-seas ; accurate , legible and , yes , also on time .
Meg Whitman was busy ; I wish all aspiring politicians could say the same !!!

[samidean]

02:36 PM on 09/30/2010

This woman was caring for Whitman's children, so if she never met her what kind of mother does that make Meg.  Big difference from whatever work you did.

[2farleft]

02:06 PM on 10/01/2010

"This Woman" ?

[JShankel]

03:12 PM on 09/30/2010

Yeah, it's actually to her credit that she ignored notifications from Social Security that she was employing someone with a fraudulent ID!  Really, she should get a medal.

[2farleft]

02:05 PM on 10/01/2010

What do you know about "shanks" , Mr. Brown ? I prefer an icepick !!!

[gschear]

01:42 PM on 09/30/2010

I would suspect that if this were untrue, Ms. Whitman would be shouting denials and her lawyers firing motions in every direction but apparently this isn't the case. Another case of the privileged wanting to buy political position as an investment in their continued privilege. Do as I say little people! Not as I do.

[mvaldivia32]

02:33 PM on 09/30/2010

i think whitman comes out looking good here. she fired the maid once she found out she was illegal, and prior to that she paid the nanny a handsome $23/hour.

[Puddin]

05:16 PM on 09/30/2010

The nanny didn't get the whole $23/hour...the agency gets a %.

[CessnaDriver]

03:06 PM on 10/01/2010

Are you really that uninformed?

The "$23 an hour" was for only 15 hours per week. The rest of the hours were worked for "free".

Check the documentation: $17,990 per year. Do the math. 

50 hours work for 15 hours pay isn't "Handsome" it's fraud.

Meggie thinks you are stupid enough to believe her BS...and you jut may be.

[samidean]

02:38 PM on 09/30/2010

She apparently got her politicians training from Newt Gingrich.  You are right though about all of her high priced attorneys.  Instead she blames her opponent and that is about as weak of a defense as I can think of.
F&F.

[Patrick Shaw]

01:15 PM on 09/30/2010

It is amazing how cheap the super-rich are.

[Disdain]

03:47 PM on 09/30/2010

$23/hour is not cheap.

[Howzat]

06:28 PM on 09/30/2010

$23 to do what; that is the question.

What do you charge.

[Zork4]

11:30 PM on 09/30/2010

Paid to an agency. The worker gets less than half.

[Capibara]

01:12 PM on 09/30/2010

I want to be Meg Whitman's maid, that sounds like a sweet gig. This lady is ungrateful. And if she really is undocumented, and admits to it, start the deportation.

[CessnaDriver]

03:08 PM on 10/01/2010

Do you want to get 15 hours pay for 50 hours worked? $17,990 before taxes is "sweet" to you?

[PartyOfMaybe]

01:03 PM on 09/30/2010

I'm sure it was tough to track down an undocumented migrant in California who would say she got abused by the candidate for governor. Convenient.

[samidean]

01:09 PM on 09/30/2010

Yes, I know in the bagger world all Dems put ads in all papers looking for just these people.  PLEESE GROW UP.

[JShankel]

02:58 PM on 09/30/2010

If she was taking care of the same house for 9 years, she wasn't "migrant."