This isn’t Meg Whitman’s week. Fresh off a poor debate performance, her campaign was rocked by the story of Nicky Diaz Santillan, Whitman’s longtime housekeeper who held a riveting press conference today to explain her mistreatment at the hands of Whitman. The most explosive allegation is that Whitman knew about Santillan’s immigration status but did nothing about it, even after reportedly being notified by the Social Security Administration that Santillan’s SSN did not match the records.

As others have noted, if true this makes Whitman a massive hypocrite – just last night she called for tougher enforcement of immigration laws. And Carly Fiorina, in the video clip at right, has said on two recent occasions that anyone who knowingly employs an undocumented worker should be jailed.

This scandal has the potential to do big damage to Whitman on at least two levels. First, it shows her right-wing immigrant-hating base that she is no different than the other corporate hacks who hire undocumented workers instead of “real Americans.” True, I don’t personally see any difference between the two – undocumented workers ARE Americans – but we know that the right-wing base does see a distinction. They’ve already been upset with Whitman on immigration, and this has the potential to widen that divide.

Second, and more ominously for Whitman, this could crush any remaining hopes she had of winning significant portions of Latino votes. Most Latino Californians don’t share the work experience of Santillan, but they are quite familiar with the kind of exploitation that many Latinos – documented or not – constantly face in the workplace. Latinos were already trending away from Whitman in the polls, but now they are seeing Whitman as a bad boss who mistreats Latinos. She’s going to have a very difficult time overcoming that, even if it’s premature to conclude that, as a Daily Kos diarist did, that “Housekeeper makes Brown Governor.”

Whitman has pushed back, blaming Santillan for providing false documents. As anyone who has filled out an I-9 form knows, there are federal criminal penalties for any employer who hires an undocumented worker. Whitman is also disputing the report that the SSA notified her of the problem in 2003 – which can be easily resolved if Whitman were to call on the SSA to release such a letter.

Still, there’s more to the story than the immigration issue. Santillan also told of her exploitation at the hands of Whitman, including overworking her, engaging in “emotional and financial abuse,” and even denying Santillan family leave when she was pregnant. The term “pregnancy discrimination” was used by Santillan’s attorney, Gloria Allred, which is itself pretty damning if proven.

That’s not a typical pattern of treatment for housekeepers. I have relatives who worked as live-in housekeepers for a very well-known TV star and mogul in Malibu for 15 years. They were treated extremely well by these employers (who made sure to check their immigration status when he hired them in 1987), both in terms of pay and overall working conditions. Although these relatives retired and moved to Washington State several years ago, they still maintain close contact with the employer and his family. By all accounts it was a model of how to treat workers (that are too often degraded and underpaid) with dignity, respect, and the good wages they deserved.

The contrast to what Santillan described at the Whitman home in Atherton could not have been greater. Whitman clearly viewed the housekeeper as an easy target for exploitation, and proceeded to exploit her to the hilt. When a problem arose, Whitman fired her as quickly as she could and told her to “deny ever knowing me.”

The immigration status issue is certainly what will dominate the next few news cycles on this. But it is worth pointing out how thoroughly exploitative Whitman is, and how deeply she believes that the only people who deserve to be treated well are the wealthy class – everyone else are just serfs.