Judge Awards Housekeeper $1.2 Million For Mistreatment While Working In EG

A federal judge has awarded former EG housekeeper Elizabeth Ballesteros $1.2 million in a civil case where she accused her United Arab Emirates boss of forcing her to care for his five children and clean his East Greenwich house, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

It's unclear if Ballesteros will ever see the money. UAE Navy Officer Arif Mohamed Saeed Mohamed Al-Ali and his family moved back to the UAE in 2011, after he was acquitted of criminal charges. 

Ballesteros, who comes from the Philippines, had worked for Al-Ali since 2007, according to an account of the criminal trial in July 2011 in the Providence Journal, but the time in question was a 12-week period she spent working for the family while they were staying in a rented house in East Greenwich. Al-Ali was attending a program at the Naval War College in Newport.

Al-Ali had been represented by EG resident and former U.S. Attorney Robert Corrente, but Corrente withdrew from the civil case in January, according to the AP, saying Al-Ali did not want to spend anymore money on legal fees. 

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell ordered Al-Ali to pay Ballesteros $10,000 per day for each of the 84 days that McConnell said Ballesteros was imprisoned and subject to emotional abuse. Ballesteros had testified she had been forced to work seven days a week and that Al-Ali did not pay the pre-arranged fees. She said he withheld her passport and threatened her. McConnell called Al-Ali's behavior outrageous and inhumane. 

Did you know the Al-Ali family during their time in East Greenwich? If so, please contact me: elizabeth.mcnamara@patch.com or (401) 924-4233.