A foreign worker from Nepal is suing Interior Minister Eli Yishai's sister, Yael Sha'ashua, for allegedly employing her illegally and without paying her social benefits as required by law.
Mina Kumari is suing Sha'ashua for NIS 29,000 for failing to pay her social benefits she is entitled to by law, such as vacation, pension and sick leave, according to a lawsuit filed last week with the Tel Aviv Labor Court. She is also suing for dismissal compensation and for compensation for allegedly being employed illegally.
The suit says Sha'ashua assured Kumari that she was arranging her visa. "She said her brother was the interior minister, so there won't be any problem," said Kumari. "The agency that brought me said the same. Everyone kept telling me not to worry and that everything will be alright."
In fact, the suit says, Kumari was in danger of being arrested, detained and deported during the time she worked and stayed in Israel illegally.
Kumari, who worked for Sha'ashua from November 2009 to April 2011, said she was forced to resign and would have been deported had it not been for the intervention of workers' rights organization Kav LaOved.
Kumari came to Israel in November 2009 to serve as Sha'ashua's caretaker during her recovery from cancer, says the suit submitted by attorney Efrat Moor-Millman of Kav LaOved. But she was employed only as a cleaner in her employer's home in Holon, while residing illegally in a rented apartment she paid for herself in Tel Aviv, the suit says. The law requires an employer to provide a licensed migrant worker lodging in his home.
At the end of April 2010 Sha'ashua's permit to employ a foreign worker expired and Kumari became an illegal immigrant, despite Sha'ashua's assurances over the preceding months that she was arranging Kumari's visa, according to the suit.
At some point Sha'ashua told Kumari her request to continue employing her had been rejected and that she had appealed to the Population and Immigration Authority over the matter.
"She kept telling me not to worry. I didn't want to offend her so I continued working, believing everything would be arranged," Kumari said.
Four and a half months later, when nothing happened, Kumari turned to Kav LaOved for advice. The NGO made inquiries, explained Kumari's situation to her and helped her write a resignation letter.
In addition to the danger of being arrested and deported, the fact that Kumari had stayed illegally for more than 90 days made her liable for deportation before completing the period during which she may work in Israel, as well as prohibiting her from working for someone else.
In November 2011 Kumari found a new employer with an employment permit. But the Population Authority office in Ashkelon rejected the employer's request to extend Kumari's visa. The authority said Kumari had stayed in Israel illegally for more than 90 days and must therefore leave the country within 14 days.
Only following Kav LaOved's intervention did the authority grant Kumari a work visa.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai's aides said Sha'ashua had asked her brother in October 2011 for help in arranging Kumari's status but he refused and told her to apply through the ministry.
"This is a classic case of a worker who lost her legal status due to her employer's lack of responsibility," said Idit Leibovitch of Kav LaOved.
"We have been receiving more and more requests for help from workers brought here as caretakers but who are employed as house cleaners by employers who need no nursing help at all. The employers save money by paying migrant workers less than they would Israeli cleaners," she said.
The Population and Immigration Authority said it refrains from enforcing the law in cases of infirm employers who are in the process of extending a worker's expired visa. "As for Sha'ashua's case - her request has been under examination for some time, a house visit took place and new information has been obtained about her medical condition," an official said.
