Expat workers being abused

The people who are working here on Grand Cayman have their international human rights when they are here or anywhere in the world.

But I have found on person whose rights have been taken away from her and is being abused by her employer.

This is a sad story and I would say the same thing is going on with many other workers here with us from the outside world. Not all workers, but some. Many of them were told on their permits and by their employers that they would only work eight hours per day and be paid well. But they are sometimes pushed to work 11 to 16 hours with no medical insurance and no pension plan and I understand that many of them are treated like slaves.

I ran into one woman who asked me to help her. Her employer was treating her so bad I had to get in touch with her embassy in Washington, DC, for she was a live-in for three and a half years as a domestic worker and was being abused. It got so bad that her passport and work permit went missing from her employer’s house where she lived. Then the employer, after learning that she made a police report about the missing passport, gave her a termination letter the next day, called the police and had her removed from the house. There is no claim by the employer to the police that she did any crime. But as I understood it from her, she was moved by force into the streets of the Cayman Islands with an offer of $250 after working for this employer for three and a half years with no problem. The matter was turned over to Immigration.

And I do hope that the employer will never be granted another work permit by our Immigration for the employer is also an outsider, meaning not a Caymanian.

Now all Caymanians know where I stand when it comes to the workforce and that is Caymanians first for all employment sectors. But all should understand that I also stand up for all international human rights and real and true justice. Many of the people that are here working with us are treated very badly and abused.

I myself am guilty of sometimes giving all outsiders a hard time when I see that many of them only wire workers that are not Caymanians. Firstly, I do not think that is fair, but you can only really blame our stupid system that allows this to happen.

After hearing this lady’s story, I went on a mission to find out more. A lot of people that are here with us live in such conditions with six to 10 people to a three-room house. Three bed room house with up to 14 people using the same kitchen, the same bathroom. They stack bunk beds with men and women. Some of them are already married in their own country and now find themselves sleeping all together to try and make it here in Cayman and send a little money home to their family.

They live like this so they can all share to pay the rent and other bills like lights and water. It is even worse in some places I have visited.

Now when we all take a check, many of these employers treat these people bad first by lying to them and Immigration on their permits about how much they will be paid and not tell that permit holder or worker of their benefits like medical insurance and pension and their rights under the law.

Remember, slavery is over and has been over for a good long time. So to all of you on Cayman that are guilty of treating that worker like a slave with such things as low wages, no overtime pay, no paid holidays, no pension, no medical insurance and sex acts and more than that is wrong against your employee. Put a stop to it now for when and if I find you out I will do my very best to let the whole Island know about you.

Now to all the people that are working here, there is something that you can do to help yourself and do not be afraid. Call the Immigration Department or go and ask them to help you to understand what you need to know about your rights and entitlements here in Cayman between employer and employee.

And do not be afraid to report anyone that is an employer that forces you to have sex with them in order for you to keep your job here in Cayman. For if this is happening to you it is rape. If you work and are not being paid it is abuse, so stand up, speak up and know your rights while working in Cayman.

Now to all employers, stop the abuse of these outside workers. Some of them are placed in very important positions in your families’ lives, especially the domestic workers. They take care of your children and your whole household. And I must stress they have families of their own. Now turn yourself around and take their position and give them yours. What do you see? What do you think? Let us all do more to live better; all of us here on Cayman.

And stop the abuse in all ways to all people.

Emile S. Levy