An Indian-American CEO of an IT staffing and consulting firm was charged with callous treatment of a domestic worker.
The Department of Labor in its complaint alleged that Himanshu Bhatia, the CEO for Rose International and IT Staffing, underpaid her domestic service worker.
According to the complaint filed by U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez on August 22, the worker, identified as Sheela Ningwal, was subject to abuse at home. She was forced to sleep in the garage with Ms. Bhatia’s dogs when she was ill, and was left without food when Ms. Bhatia left her residence for days, the complaint alleged.
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Additionally, Ms. Bhatia confiscated Ms. Ningwal’s passport, restricting her free movement. Ms. Bhatia terminated Ms. Ningwal’s contract in December 2014 when she caught the latter researching the topic of “labour laws”, said the complaint.