APPENDIX B
SOME RECENT CASE HISTORIES
A bare recital of facts and figures can never give a true picture of the human suffering that the present system seems to condone.
One particularly bizarre story was told to one of the Filipina Helpers' Missions:
A young lady complained that she was being continually sexually harassed by her employer who would come to her room at all hours and try to force her to sleep with him. The mission workers naturally tried to persuade her to go the police but the girl gave an astonishing reply:
"Its okay. I don't want to lose my job. Anyway, I can out-run him. He gets tired sooner than I do and goes back to his own bed."
These
In a television sit-com this might be (to some) mildly amusing. In real life it is not. We therefore make no apology for the emotional content of what follows. stories come from real life and they are not, in any context, amusing.
INDECENT ASSAULT
A Filipina domestic helper was indecently assaulted by her employer (horse trainer Brian Kan) in 1988. Kan was found guilty and was fined a paltry $25,000 - for indecent assault! He was ordered to give the woman $2,400 in lieu of notice; a a one way ticket to Manila plus the staggering amount of $200 for her costs.
During the time taken for the case to be heard the victim was not allowed, by law, to take any work in order to feed and keep herself.
Because of the minimal benefits awarded her she sued Mr Kan for compensation. From October 1988 until June 1990, when her case was supposed to be heard a period of 20 months she relied on the help of her friends and her daughter, herself a domestic helper in Japan.
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Having kept his victim waiting for so long Mr Kan sportingly agreed to settle, out of court, a few days before the scheduled hearing, for an undisclosed sum.
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Appendix B