How many hours per week of childcare and light housework is fair in exchange for room&board?
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Anonymous
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We have a student living in our home right now. She has her own room in the basement, a private bathroom (although our family uses it while hanging out in the basement, not for showers though). She is welcome to eat with us or cook for herself and help herself to anything in our pantry/fridge. In the basement there is also a mini fridge, kitchen sink, microwave, washer and dryer for her personal use if she wants some privacy or have her own stuff and not have to come upstairs for everything. No stove though.
There is no TV in her bedroom, but there is one in the family room in the basement. She has access to cable, internet, amazon streaming and netflix. We do not provide car or telephone (we did loaned an old laptop). My husband gives her a ride to the metro station every morning during the week (when she is here) and on his telework day, he actually goes out just to give her a ride. When she comes back, she has to get a bus from metro and then walk home (about 20 min walk). We live in the suburbs. We let her borrow one of our cars when we don't need and she needs to run errands (groceries, bank, DMV - this kind of stuff. Not to go to work or school). When she first arrived she was studying at night time and I told her I didn't really need a nanny (I am a SAHM) but I would like her to stay with my toddler if I had a doctor appointment, or wanted to do groceries and this kind of stuff. I didn't use her much at all during that time, maybe 2, 3 hours per week. Then she changed her school hours to morning and at first it was great for me since I asked her to drive my ES child to her after school activity and I stayed home with my toddler 3x/week. It amounted to 6 hours total per week of childcare. Soon after she found a part time job after school and now leaves the house at 8am and gets here at 10pm. On Fridays she goes straight to her boyfriend's house after work and only returns on Monday night after her job. I don't begrudge her finding a paying job and I understand she needs the money and is pretty busy. However, she is not my relative or friend and she is living here for free. While I do understand her life is pretty busy, I think I need to sit down and talk to her and have my expectations spelled out. She clearly cannot provide any childcare for us during the week given her hours, but I would like her to at least help a bit around the house - unload/load the dishwasher, clean my children (2) bedrooms and bathroom once a week and do their laundry once week. Plus take the trash out when/if she sees it full. I do this job and I know it would take her about 3 hours per week. Also, it would be really nice if she could make herself available for strict childcare for another 2-3 hours on weekends. I don't think this arrangement is going to work out but while she is here, I want her to chip in. I guess I am just annoyed that things got to the point where we had to talk to her to not leave dirt plates/pots/cups on the sink for me to clean (!!!). In any event, how many hours of work is fair in exchange for room&board? |
Anonymous
| What you are describing is illegal. She must be paid minimum wage for every hour worked. |
Anonymous
| I'm confused why you took her in? First you say you don't need help and now you changed your mind. You need to talk to her. Who is she? I'd say 10 hours a week. |
Anonymous
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She doesn't like this arrangement either, and is trying to stay out of the house as much as possible. I suspect she's gone as soon as she saves up enough for a deposit for a real roommate situation.
PP is right; you can deduct room and board from the minimum wage, but you can't barter it the way you're doing, not legally, anyway. You also can only deduct what that space actually costs, not what you could potentially rent it for. The Dept. of Labor suggests you come up with an amount based on the percentage of your house the space represents. You also have to keep good records to do this. Here is the DOL FAQ: https://www.dol.gov/whd/homecare/credit_wages_faq.htm#2 |
Anonymous
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By the way, all of you who are claiming she must be paid minimum wage in addition to room and board? Not necessarily so if the hours are low. Here is what the Dept. of Labor says about that:
16. Q. Are employers required to pay a cash wage if they are claiming the 3(m) credit, if the credit covers the federal minimum wage rate? A. No. The section 3(m) credit may be the sole payment an employee receives, provided it is sufficient to cover the employer’s minimum wage obligation. For example, a maintenance supervisor at an apartment complex who works for 12 hours per week could be compensated entirely by not being charged rent. If the reasonable cost of his lodging is $500 per month (or $115.38 per week, calculated by multiplying $500 by 12 months and dividing by 52 weeks), and the employer has complied with the requirements for claiming a section 3(m) credit, this arrangement complies with the FLSA because the employee receives a regular rate of $9.62 per hour ($115.38/12). |
Anonymous
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Like one PP asked....How did she originally end up at your house for?
Initially did you take her in as a Nanny or Au Pair?? |
Anonymous
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OP here. She was an au pair before for 2 years (not mine) and she babysat for us for 2 weeks last year (paid $1600) while I was out of town and she was finished with her aupair year. While working here, she mentioned she wanted to come back to study and needed a place to stay. We talked and offered her to stay here in exchange for a few hours of childcare per week - like I said, if I needed to go to the doctor, do groceries and a couple of hours on weekends. I really don't need much. But as it stands, she isn't being able to help at all with childcare. So, in essence, she is living here for free. Honestly, I wouldn't mind that if she gave a hand loading/ unloading the dishwasher, taking the trash out and the like.
You know, even my relatives and friends when come to visit do this kind of stuff without being asked or prompted. |
Anonymous
Then you need to talk to her ASAP. She has rights as a tenant now, so formalize your arrangement. FWIW, I have had much better luck with more "formal" agreements, even though the flexible ones seem like they'd benefit everyone. If you know you're expected to do x, y, z, or to be home from 6-9 on Thursday, say, you can plan around it. Otherwise, life has a way of expanding to fill the available space. |
Anonymous
So, that is why I came here - to gauge how many hours per week is a fair exchange for her room&aboard and amenities. I was thinking 7 hours per week. What do you think? |
Anonymous
The IRS says that room and board has an actual, monetary value. Why not start there? Room = percent of space of your house x mortgage (so, $2K x .10 (if 10% of your home's area) = $200/month, for example); board = food costs, maybe something for utilities, though is she's sharing some things with you, like the bathroom, you need to discount that. Come up with a number per month, multiply by 12, divide by 52, and you have an amount of money your room and board are worth per week. Take that amount and divide it by what you used to pay her to babysit per hour, and there you have your number of hours per week. |
Anonymous
| If you would like to post your monthly mortgage payment, your square footage, and the square footage of her space, I am happy to run the numbers for you. |
Anonymous
| 7 hours a week is reasonable. I don't know why you'd ever agree to that. Given the climate I hope she is here on a Visa or it could backfire on you. |
Anonymous
Room & Board count as part of minimum wage. What are you talking about? |
Anonymous
| Is she legally able to work in the US??? |
Anonymous
Not according to the law https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs79b.htm |