Couple Face Jail For Abuse Of Employee
RICHMOND, VA (IANS) – An Indian American couple has been charged with multiple offenses, including confiscating a worker’s documents, forcing him to provide services for minimal pay, and subjecting him to threats at their gas station and convenience store in Virginia.
Returning a seven-count indictment on July 20, a federal jury in Richmond laid a total of six charges against Harmanpreet Singh, 30, and Kulbir Kaur, 42, of North Chesterfield region.
The charges include conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain, document servitude, conspiracy to commit bankruptcy fraud, and fraudulent transfers in completion of bankruptcy.
According to the court documents, between March 2018 and May 2021, Harmanpreet and Kulbir allegedly forced the victim to provide labor and services at their store.
The victim worked as a cashier, preparing food, cleaning, and managing store records, the Department of Justice said.
The indictment alleged that the couple used various coercive means, including confiscating the victim’s immigration documents and subjecting the victim to physical abuse, threats of force, and other serious harm and, at times, degrading living conditions, to compel him to work long hours for minimal pay.
The indictment further alleges that the defendants harbored the victim after his visa expired for financial gain and committed bankruptcy-related fraud offenses.
The charge of forced labor carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000, and mandatory restitution.
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Yes
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You cannot india out of indians
July 20, 2023pemba
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Its typical habit of south asian nationals to exploit.
July 20, 2023That is in their DNA, evidence is still fresh, in New Jersy
and elsewhere in US, the Mega temples were built with the
forced 200 Dalit workers for the 20 yrs.
Comparing, this couple had small business, exploitation
of the workers is at small scale.
RAJENDIR K SHARMA
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Zanzibar
July 20, 2023The so called Dalits are generally do manual work as they are not highly educated to become “high caste’ person. I believe if they study hard they can become high caste person. While some Mega temples may have been built with their labor, it should be recognized that while cash paid may be below minimum wage, they were provided free housing, food, free toilet paper, medical, dental, bedding, cloths, moving cost, etc. If you add all these items, the actual hourly pap may translate over the federal minimum hourly pay. When these dalits start to work and see the cash received, they believe they are underpaid without realizing the fringe benefits. There is no exploitation because temples operate on donations without profit motive.
RAJENDIR K SHARMA
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Joe Biden
They cannot be deported because they are US citizens. Moreover, exploitation is universal, not unique to Indians. US participated in slavery which was also a form of exploitation. The black arabs are the offsprings of African slaves who got freedom by accepting Islam. When you run a business on shoe string, would you accept them giving employees proper pay? Only desperate one will work for such employers. Urge whose who believe being exploited to learn high paying skills. With unemployment so low, there are many good paying jobs available. If you are undocumented, then don’t expect a high paying income.
July 20, 2023