Nicky Diaz, Whitman's former housekeeper, held a press conference with well-known attorney Gloria Allred at her side.  Diaz says she was in the country illegally and was mistreated during the nine years she worked for Whitman.  Allred claims Whitman got a notice from the federal government that there was a problem with Diaz's social security number, but ignored it.  The press conference was webcast on entertainment news site TMZ:

Allred: "Was Ms. Whitman engaging in her own form of "Don't ask, don't tell, so that she could continue to benefit from the work of a vulnerable and undocumented worker and exploit her while pretending that she didn't know the truth?"

Whitman says she never received any such letter.  She says Diaz was hired through an employment agency:

Whitman: "All the documentation that we had said that she was legal.  She had a 10-99 on file with the employment agency, driver's license, social security card, we had no reason to believe that she was not legal."