Meg Whitman's former maid was awarded $5,500 on Wednesday in back wages she claimed was owed to her from the former candidate for governor.
Nicky Diaz Santillan and her celebrity attorney, Gloria Allred, met this morning at the California Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement in San Jose, seeking more than $10,000. She said she was owed the money for work she did beyond the 15 hours a week for which she was paid during the nine years she worked for Whitman. Santillan said she was asked to perform jobs, including running errands and grocery shopping, that fell outside of her paid housekeeping duties.
"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," Santillan said on the sidewalk outside the downtown San Jose building after the hearing. "We do all this because we need to support our families and to give our children a better future."
It's unclear whether Whitman attended the conference.
Her attorney on the scene, Dennis Brown, called the settlement "routine," saying the only reason the issue was heard was because there were no time cards involved.
"It's a political soap opera that has drawn its curtains," said Whitman campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds, who was also at the hearing.
