Meg Whitman accused of employing undocumented maid for years

The big issue in the race for governor is jobs. But today, there is an issue around hiring. Republican Meg Whitman is accused of having an undocumented housekeeper for years before she announced her run for governor.

Nicky Diaz Santillan wiped away tears as cameras clicked during a crowded news conference at attorney Gloria Allred’s mid-Wilshire office. The woman from Mexico worked for Whitman for nine years.

She describes the conversation she had last year when she asked Whitman for help in getting an immigration attorney and legal status.

She said, “Meg, please, can you help me? And she (Whitman) was very upset and said, ‘No, and you don’t know me and I have never seen you and you have never seen me. Understand me?’”

Allred says Whitman repeatedly received notices from the Social Security Administration saying Santillan's number and name didn't match up. Allred says that is a clear indication of a problem with legal papers.

Allred says the Republican candidate used a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to benefit from and exploit an undocumented worker.

Whitman fired Santillan last year just after she announced her run for governor. And Allred says it’s hypocritical, given Whitman’s statements in the gubernatorial debate.

“When she says, ‘We do have to hold employers accountable for hiring only documented workers and we do have to enforce that law,’ is she willing to be held accountable? Is she willing to deal with this issue in an honest way?”

Santillan says she plans to file a claim with the state for back pay. She says she frequently worked more than the 15 hours a week for which she was paid.

Whitman spoke briefly with reporters about her former housekeeper. Whitman says she did the right thing after the housekeeper took her aside last year to say that she was in the country illegally.

"As soon as we found that she was an illegal immigrant, then we actually did what we had to do as an employer – which was to let her go. But all the documentation that we had said that she was legal.

"It said she had a 1099 on file with the employment agency, driver’s license, Social Security card. We had no reason to believe that she was not legal.”

Whitman says she hired Santillan through an employment agency. The Whitman campaign says Santillan gave the agency papers to show she was eligible to work in the U.S. Whitman says attorney Gloria Allred is manipulating her former housekeeper.

“I feel terrible for Nikki. Nikki was a friend of our family for nine years. She was in many ways a member of our extended family. And I am, I feel badly for her. Y’know, she’s being manipulated, I think, and I feel sorry about that.”

Allred grabbed headlines in the past during a political campaign. In the gubernatorial recall seven years ago, she held several news conferences with women who claimed they’d been groped by then-candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger.