IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Whitman settles for $5,500 with former housekeeper

Former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has agreed to pay her former housekeeper $5,500 in unpaid wages to settle a dispute that erupted in the final month of the campaign.
Nicky Diaz Santillan, Gloria Allred, Meg Whitman
Nicky Diaz Santillan, right, and her attorney Gloria Allred, left, smile as they leave a hearing in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday. Diaz Santillan, the illegal immigrant housekeeper who helped derail Meg Whitman's gubernatorial campaign, took her case before the California Department of Industrial Relations. She claims the former eBay CEO and billionaire owes her $6,210 in unpaid wages and mileage reimbursements accrued during the nine years she spent as the Whitman family's housekeeper. Paul Sakuma / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

Former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has agreed to pay her former housekeeper $5,500 in unpaid wages to settle a dispute that erupted in the final month of the campaign.

Whitman's campaign began to lose public support after it was revealed that her former housekeeper of nine years was an illegal immigrant.

The former eBay CEO had portrayed herself as tough on immigration and said she fired Nicky Diaz Santillan when she discovered her status. She and her husband did not admit any wrongdoing.

Whitman did not attend the meeting Wednesday in San Jose where the settlement was reached. Her husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh IV, attended with a family lawyer.

Diaz Santillan told reporters that she came forward so other housekeepers would not face discrimination.