GDN:Maid wins pay battle in part

Maid wins pay battle in part
By BEGENA GEORGE
Published: 12 November 2006

MANAMA: An Indian housemaid who filed a case against her sponsor for not paying her salary for nearly two years, is going home today after getting part of the amount.

Sangeetha Shankar Gaunkar, aged 21, ran away from her sponsor to seek help from the Indian Embassy when her sponsor told her on August 11, without prior notice, that she would be sent home in two days.

She claimed that he owed BD880 and must pay for the air ticket home. The sponsor allegedly promised to pay her the amount at the airport.

She has since, upon the embassy’s request, been sheltered by the Migrant Workers’ Protection Society (MWPS) until the issue is resolved.

Maid wins pay battle in part
By BEGENA GEORGE
Published: 12 November 2006

MANAMA: An Indian housemaid who filed a case against her sponsor for not paying her salary for nearly two years, is going home today after getting part of the amount.

Sangeetha Shankar Gaunkar, aged 21, ran away from her sponsor to seek help from the Indian Embassy when her sponsor told her on August 11, without prior notice, that she would be sent home in two days.

She claimed that he owed BD880 and must pay for the air ticket home. The sponsor allegedly promised to pay her the amount at the airport.

She has since, upon the embassy’s request, been sheltered by the Migrant Workers’ Protection Society (MWPS) until the issue is resolved.

MWPS action committee head Marietta Diaz told the GDN that the sponsor had agreed to pay BD500 and for her air ticket.

“She is rightfully entitled to BD880, but the sponsor has from the beginning, very adamantly stuck to BD500 and that’s all he has given her,” said Mrs Diaz.

“But he did give her the air ticket that she was entitled to.

“She has no other way now but accept it, as any more legal measures is going to take time.”

Ms Gaunkar has been working at the sponsor’s house in Riffa since September 2002, receiving a monthly salary of BD40.

But she claims that she wasn’t paid anything for the past 22 months. She said she ran away when she got anxious that she would never get her money after she was told that she would be leaving the country in two days.

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