Judge rules in favor of a woman migrant domestic worker and against her Lebanese employer

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report today about a court order issued by Nader Mansour the Penal judge who ruled in favour of the plaintiff, W.S. from Sri Lanka.  The Judge ordered that her former employer, W.K., serves a two months prison sentence as well as pay a penalty of LBP 500,000 in addition to paying her former employee her due salary of 3750 USD.  The plaintiff, who sued her employer with the support of Kafa: Enough Violence and Exploitation, was also granted an amount of 1 billion and 500 thousand LBP for compensation.
Kafa had taken this case to court against the employer who had withheld her employee’s salary for three years.  Kafa’s lawyer, Mohana Isaac, noted that Kafa tried to negotiate with W.k. to reach a settlement but the latter refused to bulge thus prompting Kafa to take the case to court.  Lawyer Isaac notes that this verdict is unprecedented as it was addressed through the criminal courts whereas issues related to salaries are normally addressed through the civil courts.  The presiding judget however considered that the case is indeed a criminal offense according to 671 of the criminal code.
The verdict was pronounced in absentia as the defendant had changed both her phone number and her place of residence since the issue was taken to court by the end of 2010.
Source: Al-Akhbar 7 August 2013