Statement of Carmen Calixto Rodriquez

Name:                         Carmen Calixto Rodriquez
Age:                            36

My name is Carmen Calixto Rodriquez and I am a 36-year-old Latina woman from Mexico living in New York City. I worked at the Broadway Plaza Hotel for over two years, during which time I was subjected to sexual harassment, forced labor and verbal abuse at the hands of my supervisor, Felix David Buendia Ramirez.

Mr. Ramirez gave preferential treatment to the housekeepers whom he was attracted to by giving them fewer work assignments. Because Mr. Ramirez did not find me attractive-he called me ugly to my face-I had to do more than my share of work. I regularly worked 10 hours per day, and sometimes up to 16 hours per day, seven days a week. I was cleaning up to 20 rooms per day, which is more than what I was told I would be doing when I was hired.

Mr. Ramirez frequently bragged about his sexual conquests and made sure that we all knew he was a man who could take women as he pleased. He claimed that he had sex with all the housekeepers. When two new housekeepers started working on the same day, Mr. Ramirez said that the two of them ""no van a escapar"" [will not escape], meaning he would have his way with them. One of these new housekeepers was Ines Bello, one of the women filing charges with me.

Towards the end of my employment, I could no longer stand the thought of going to work because of the foul things Mr. Ramirez yelled at me and my co-workers. When I chose not to return to work, Mr. Ramirez came to my home to pick me up along with a co-worker. He took the two of us to the hotel and made us work for the day. Mr. Ramirez said that I did not have the right to say anything about my treatment at work because I am an immigrant.

Due to the sexual harassment and the incredibly harsh work conditions at the hotel, and the fact that I was made to work without pay on some occasions, I felt that I had no choice but to stop working at the Broadway Plaza Hotel.