The modelling agency owned by Donald Trump has been accused of treating a 17-year-old like a 'slave' after bringing her to the U.S on a visa he claims is widely abused.
Alexa
Palmer claims immigration documents completed by the agency said she
would earn $75,000 a year, but in fact she took away less than $5,000 in
three years.
The
Jamaican national is now suing the Trump Model Management, alleging she
was not treated in line with the promises the firm initially made.
The Trump subsidiary had the Republican's third wife, Melania, signed to it before they couple married.
In
a declaration of his finances published shortly after he declared he
was running, Trump said the agency brought in between $1 million and $5
million each year.
However Palmer told ABC News's GMA that she had been exploited by the firm.
It
took 80 per cent of her earnings in fees and expenses, leaving her with
earnings in three years of $3,880 and $1,100 in cash advances, she
said.
'That's what slavery people do,' she said. 'You work and don't get no money.'
It
is however the visa arrangements which allowed her to come to the U.S.
as a Trump model which is likely to prove controversial.
Palmer
was allowed into the country on an H-1B, a visa for foreign workers
which ties them to staying with the same company, and sets a minimum
wage for them which is intended to prevent them being used to undercut
American labor.
Palmer says her visa documents said she would work 'full-time' and earn $75,000 a year.
But
that did not happen as she did not work full time, and was not actually
employed by the Trump agency - raising questions over the visa being
issued.
'I'd
say that somebody's got some explaining to do,' Robert Divine, a former
chief counsel to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
agency told ABC News.
'It would be extraordinarily unusual for that to be legal.'
Palmer's lawyer, Naresh Gehi, says his client was cheated of earnings and seduced by a life of glamour that never materialized.
'The
visa application the company filed with the government requires that
people are paid the full amount,' Gehi said. 'It's a requirement.'
The use of H-1Bs has been hugely controversial, with both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz promising to crack down on their abuse.
'Slavery': Alexia Palmer, who was 17
when she came to New York on a visa arranged by Trump model management,
says she received nothing like the $75,000 annual earning declared on
immigration papers
Aspiring: Alexia Palmer in an early model shoot. She said she was wildly excited to be signed for a New York agency
Immigrant: The Trump agency brought
Alexia Palmer to New York on an H-1B visa. She and her lawyers now say
it was a breach of immigration law
Rare outing: According to court papers
Alexia Palmer had just 10 days work in three years, despite being
unable to carry out assignments for other agencies under the terms of
her visa
Trump
himself has spoken out about other companies abusing the scheme to
bring in cheap foreign labor, then force Americna workers to train their
replacements before firing them.
But he has also come under fire for using them to bring foreign workers into his Mar-a-Lago club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
His public policy position now is to make it a requirement of issuing an H-1B that American workers are hired first.
Trump's
attorney, Alan Garten, disputed Palmer's claim and said: 'Anything
she's saying about being treated as a slave is completely untrue. The
greater demand for the model, the better that model does.
'In the case of the individual you're talking about, there wasn't - unfortunately - a lot of demand for the model.'
A
judge will decide by the end of this month whether to proceed with a
proposed class action lawsuit filed by Palmer, the judge's office said.
The
complaint alleges 'fraudulent misrepresentation' and violations of U.S.
immigration and labor laws. It asks for $225,000 in back pay.
The suit was originally filed in October 2014.
A
decision on a pending motion by Trump Model Management to dismiss is
expected by the end of March, the clerk for Judge Analisa Torres, who is
presiding over the case in the U.S District Court, Southern District,
told Reuters.
In court documents, Trump's lawyers
said Palmer wasn't an employee and was more than adequately compensated
for a 'very brief stint as a fashion model'. Pictured, the Trump Models
agency in New York
Defense: Attorneys for Trump are vigorously defending the case and say Palmer simply was not successful enough
If
Torres rules the case can proceed, it could revive attention on the GOP
frontrunner's foreign labor practices at a time when the celebrity
billionaire's rise in American politics has riveted the world's
attention.
Trump's lawyers have called the case 'frivolous' and 'without merit.'
In
court documents, they said Palmer wasn't an employee and was more than
adequately compensated for a 'very brief stint as a fashion model,'
which they say amounted to less than 10 days of work over three years.
Palmer's failed modelling career began when she came second, aged 17, in a contest in Kingston, Jamaica.
'I was very excited because all the girls in Jamaica wanted to be signed with an agency [in New York],' she told GMA.
Michael
Wildes, the New York attorney who handled Palmer's visa application and
those of other Trump models described the $75,000 figure as
'aspirational'.
'Our position is the application was proper when filed,' Wildes told ABC News.
This is not the first time Trump's labor practices have drawn criticism.
In
August last year, it was revealed that Trump's companies sought to
import at least 1,100 workers on temporary visas since 2000.
Of those, 250 were filed for foreign fashion models, according to Reuters' analysis of federal Department of Labor data.
It's
not the industry norm to use H-1B visas, which are usually reserved for
highly skilled specialized labor like engineers, programmers and
medical specialists.
O-1 visas are more common, modeling agency lawyers and executives said. The O-1 is typically used by artists and athletes.
Though
H-1B use is rare, a Reuters analysis found that in the past three
years, modeling agencies have submitted 181 applications for H-1B visas
for foreign models.
Of
those, 173 stated that the model would be paid an hourly wage, ranging
from as little as $8.40 an hour to as much as $500 an hour.
The Trump Model yearly salary listed in the federal database of H-1B applications was the outlier.
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