Civil suit against Lebanon’s ambassador in US, accused of underpaying and verbally abusing his maid, dismissed

As a follow up to our initial coverage on this case in the United States, here's the outcome of the civil suite against Lebanese ambassador:

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The issue has come up in recent years in civil cases in the United States. Three domestic workers employed by foreign diplomats in the United States have filed federal lawsuits alleging they were underpaid or physically and verbally abused. The workers claimed that their diplomatic employers violated the Fair Labor Standards, and that they are not exempt from prosecution under the Vienna Conventions' exemption for "commercial activity ... outside his official functions." But federal judges have dismissed all of the cases. Most recently, on April 26, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington threw out a case alleging that Lebanese Ambassador Antoine Chedid and his wife underpaid and verbally abused their maid. His decision relied, in part, on a State Department filing in a separate case, which found that hiring household workers for assistance during diplomatic service is covered by the Vienna Convention's immunity provisions.

On March 25, four former employees of a senior Qatari diplomat in the United States filed a similar abuse case, which also alleges sexual assault, in federal district court in Washington.

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Full article: Immunity defense would be hard for Strauss-Kahn