Whitman Settles Up With Former Housekeeper

Details about closed-door meeting come out.

Meg Whitman agreed to pay her former housekeeper $5,500 in back pay to settle a dispute that erupted during her failed campaign for governor.

Whitman did not attend the meeting at the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement office in San Jose Wednesday morning, but her husband Dr. Griffith Harsh was there. He did not speak to reporters. 

The housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, was at the hearing, as well as her lawyer Gloria Allred.

Standing side by side following the settlement Allred said the settlement was part of a larger message to employers. "If you hire someone, you need to pay them the wages for the hours that they worked. And there are no exceptions," Allred said.
 
The housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan read a statement.  "As housekeepers, we clean toilets, make beds, mop floors, do laundry, iron, mend their clothes and often we are asked to care for our employer's children, as well.  We do our best for our employers, and in return all we ask is to be treated with respect and to be paid for all the work we do."
 
The AP reported that neither Whitman or her husband had to admit any wrongdoing during the two hour closed door session.  The Huffington Post reported at the Whitman side did not get at least one of things they wanted from the settlement.  Family attorney Dennis Brown said, "One of the conditions that we asked, that she (Diaz Santillan) look him in the eye and say that this is a true claim: 'I was not paid these wages,'" Brown said. "They refused to do that."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us