Ex-Stanford fellow facing a lawsuit over domestic work

San Jose Mercury News ^ | Wed, Dec. 17, 2003 | Julie Patel

[nickcarraway]

Journalist Wanja Njuguna-Githinji and her housekeeper Alice Biketi moved to the Bay Area last year from Kenya with high hopes.

Njuguna-Githinji, who won Africa's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for her work exposing human-rights violations and corruption, had won a prestigious fellowship at Stanford University. Biketi, her employee of two years, agreed to come along, knowing she could make more money in one day than she made in one month in Kenya.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[Atlas Sneezed]

excerpt:

"Before traveling to the United States in August 2002, Njuguna-Githinji and Biketi drew up a contract that, among other things, stipulated that Biketi would earn $6.75 an hour and work six-hour days performing domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning and babysitting Njuguna-Githinji's 2-year-old son. Biketi says that Njuguna-Githinji also verbally promised to help her enroll in college and bring her daughter to the United States.

"After about five months living and working in Palo Alto, Biketi left unannounced. She said she was paid only $370 over five months and was forced to work 16-hour days."