Reply to Au Pair just asked for more money

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Reply to "Au Pair just asked for more money"

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[quote=Anonymous]Paola (pseudonym) paid $3,000 to a recruiter at her university in Colombia to participate in the U.S. au pair program. She arrived with hopes of bonding with her host family, improving her English skills towards her goal of becoming a certified English teacher back in Colombia one day, and earning money to support her family back home. Within a month of her arrival, Paola found herself working 60-75 hours per week – during the day – and, moreover, the one solely responsible for waking up 4 to 6 times a night to feed and soothe the colicky infant, six nights per week. For her labor, she was paid less than half of what she was entitled under U.S. minimum wage laws. Paola felt compelled to stay with the host family because of her need to recoup the recruitment fee and to earn some money to send home to her family. She also remained because, as the infant’s primary caregiver, she felt she could not abandon the infant. It was only after Paola was diagnosed by an emergency room doctor with extreme exhaustion while accompanying her host family on their vacation that Paola finally left the family.
Paola reported her mistreatment to the au pair agency, specifically requesting that the family be removed from the program. However, the agency informed Paola that she was as guilty as the host family for violating the au pair regulations (due to excessive work hours), and therefore removing the host family would also require removing Paola from the program. The au pair agency furthermore threatened to immediately terminate Paola’s visa if she were to file a complaint with the State Department. Concerned about possible retaliation by the recruiter in Colombia if Paola were to file a claim with the State Department – and also because the State Department explicitly disclaimed any ability to prevent the au pair agency from terminating Paola's visa in retaliation for the complaint – Paola ultimately decided to forgo filing her complaint. With the help of an anti-trafficking advocate, Paola pursued – and ultimately settled – a civil lawsuit against the host family for the approximately $12,000 the family owed her in unpaid back wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The au pair agency has since permitted Paola’s host family to host two more au pairs from Colombia.[/quote]

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