Ex-Ambassador Enslaved An Immigrant, Lawsuit Claims

The Philippines' ambassador to the United Nations between 2003 and 2006 is being accused of enslaving a Filipina immigrant at his Upper East Side home.

In a complaint filed at a U.S. District Court in New York, the woman's representatives — an Asian-American legal defense group and the law firm Troutman Sanders — outlined 15 charges against the now-retired ambassador, Lauro Baja, and his family.

The lawyer representing Mr. Baja, Salvador Tuy, said the complaint is likely an attempt by the immigrant, Marichu Baoanan, to stay in America. Immigrants can extend their visas by being involved in lawsuits, he said.

"If she really thought she was imprisoned and all that, what was she doing in the years after she left the job?" Mr. Tuy said.

The document says the Baja family subjected Ms. Baoanan to "involuntary servitude, forced labor, debt bondage, peonage, slavery, and psychological abuse" during the three months in 2006 that she served as a domestic worker for the Baja family.

The suit also says the Baja family "conspired to lure" Ms. Baoanan to America with "false promises" that they would help her get a job as a nurse, thus making her recruitment and subsequent treatment a case of human trafficking.

According to the complaint, the Bajas forced Ms. Baoanan to work 126 hours a week, made her sleep in a basement, confiscated her passport, and forbade her to leave the house alone.

Ms. Baoanan is seeking damages for the alleged human trafficking abuses, and says she was paid less than the minimum wage and thus is entitled to compensation for back wages.

Her legal team plans to publicly announce the complaint tomorrow.

A spokesman for the Philippines' permanent mission to the United Nations, Elmer Cato, said he knows nothing about the validity of the claims. The country's department of foreign affairs said in a statement that it is "concerned" about the allegations, but is not involving itself with the complaint as of now.