labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Testimony continues this week in the New York trial of a couple on federal charges of involuntary servitude, or slavery.

If the allegations are true, the two are clearly the worst employers in the nation.

In May, a sobbing, bruised and battered middle-aged woman identified as “Samirah” escaped from a Long Island mansion and fled to a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts, where she was discovered at about 6 am on Sunday morning. When police arrived, she wept and said, “I want to go home (to Indonesia.)” A second woman was found cowering in the closet in the palatial home.

The working conditions in the couple’s mansion were clearly violations of nearly every New York labor law.

“The conduct the defendants committed is monstrous,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Demetri Jones. “It’s truly a case of modern-day slavery.”

Both women worked as housekeepers in a home in the fabulously wealthy Long Island enclave of Muttontown, in an estate guarded by two stone lions.

According to court testimony, the two Indonesian women were kept as slaves for five years in the exclusive estate. The accused man is Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, who is from India. According to testimony, most of the more serious offenses were committed by his wife, Mahender Murliddhar Sabhnani, while he watched. Mrs. Sabhnani is also from Indonesia. The pair operated a multi-million dollar perfume importing company.

The job became an excuse for the women to be tortured. The Sabhnanis are accused of beating, cutting and scalding the woman identified in court documents as Samirah. Among the allegations, the woman says that she was forced to:

Take up to 30 ice-cold showers in a row

Swallow 25 or more chili peppers

Walk naked from the servant’s quarters to the kitchen

Run up and down a flight of stairs 150 times or more

In addition, Samirah was burned with hot water, stabbed and had her ears sliced with knives. On at least one occasion, she was forced to eat rotted food. After she threw up, she was forced to consume her own vomit.

The two Indonesian women legally immigrated to the U.S. with B-1 visas. They were told they would receive $200 per month. This wage is far below the New York minimum wage, which is $7.15 per hour, applies to domestic workers. The law also requires that employees be paid time-and-a-half when working more than 40 hours per week.

Based on a conservative estimate, over 5 years of working 107 hours per week for the minimum wage, each woman would have accumulated in excess of $250,000. When they were rescued, both women were penniless, although they had never been outside of the house to spend any money.

In fact, the women were given little or no money. Instead, their wages were sent to their families in Indonesia. Samirah later learned that her daughter was receiving only half of the promised wages, or $100 per month. That works out to about 68 cents per hour.  The second woman’s family never received any money.

As soon as the two women arrived, the Sabhnanis demanded their passports. They forced the two to work 21 hours per day, from 4 am to 1 am, 7 days per week. The women, aged 46 and 51, were allowed to sleep only 3 hours per day, on 3 ft. x 6 ft. mats on the floor of one of the home’s two kitchens.

They were beaten for minor transgressions including taking food or not being able to locate an item in the large mansion. The beatings were administered with rolling pins, a bamboo stick or a broomstick. The beatings often occurred in the home’s laundry room or one of the bathrooms. The prosecution notes that one woman bears prominent scars from beatings, and had deep knife wounds behind her ears when she was discovered. The defense contends that the wounds were self-inflicted.

Both women were starved, until they began hiding food. The second woman, identified only as “Nona” led police to a drop ceiling panel in the kitchen where the two hid personal belongings and snacks that they could pilfer.

Both women were told that if they ever left the house, the Sabhnanis would use their wealth and influence in Indonesia to have the women, and their families, arrested.

When the family had visitors, the women were forced to hide in the basement, a closet or the garage. They were allowed to go outside only at night, to empty the garbage. It was on one of these nighttime forays that Samirah made her escape. She was dressed only in pants and a towel when the Dunkin’ Donuts manager, Adrian Mohammed, 26 found her the next morning. Thinking she was homeless, he gave her coffee, bagels and a jacket.

The Sabhnanis were denied bail, because their international connections and wealth made them an extreme flight risk. If convicted, each of them could face 17 to 22 years in jail. The couple denies any wrongdoing in the case.

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