Au Pair Class action law suit - what does this mean for host families?

[Anonymous]

Pp again- Forgot to add my nanny friend just got replaced with a cheap South African au pair because she wanted legal things like overtime. Time to pay up, families!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that “cultural exchange” and “treated like family” can’t be regulated. The stipend can be regulated. Too many families treat this program like a work program. They milk every second out of 45+ hours, never spend time with AP, treat her liked the hired help, etc.

This exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Split schedules even with 4h beak gives nothing to the Au pair is she lives on suburbs in MD. It looks good on paper but in reality she won't go anywhere and won't do nothing significant. No one is doing work like that. Au pair is grounded. I don't believe that any HP works so long. From 6 am to 6pm? Even if some of you are from medical field you don't work like that from Monday to Friday.

Must be a digruntled AP Welcome to the USA where people work 9-10 hour days with a commute on each end! Gasp! Maybe we excercise in their, grocery shop...

Anyway, most APs work split shift and love it...class from 9:30-11:30, grab lunch with a friend, hit the gym, etc. Ours is working on grad school applications and loves the quiet house.

From 6 am to 6pm its actually 12 h. Like I said if the Au Pair dont have a car but breaks in a workday it sucks. Maybe people in USA work 10h a day 5 times a week but with commute time, lunch breaks all priviliges.

[Anonymous]

Since when is commute time a privilidge?

Also, APs can’t work >10 hour day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since when is commute time a privilidge?

Also, APs can’t work >10 hour day.

Sure Au pair can't work more than that but if she has split shift the time that she will have to spend in a house will give more hours. Please USA figure out who will be taking care of your citizens that are children. You definitely have problem there. How about lowering prices for schools? People on this forum sound desperate and they are praying for some normal, good woman type of Au pair.

[Anonymous]

Sure Au pair can't work more than that but if she has split shift the time that she will have to spend in a house will give more hours. Please USA figure out who will be taking care of your citizens that are children. You definitely have problem there. How about lowering prices for schools? People on this forum sound desperate and they are praying for some normal, good woman type of Au pair.

Melodramatic! Look around. The AP program isn’t a main form of childcare in the USA. We will all survive.

[Anonymous]

Survive then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp again- Forgot to add my nanny friend just got replaced with a cheap South African au pair because she wanted legal things like overtime. Time to pay up, families!!

If you were an AP, how are you here now working as a nanny? Marry someone? If so, good for you, but those days are over if the program ends

[Anonymous]

We are on a break from using the AP program because we don’t need it now, but I want to use it again because I think that my daughter really benefits from the “big sister” aspect of this program. Someone to braid her hair before she goes to school, and help her pick out a “cool” outfit, and generally provide the kind of companionship that an eldest child doesn’t get without this program. But, with this lawsuit, I worry that it is too risky. Am I overthinking this? Or is it too risky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp again- Forgot to add my nanny friend just got replaced with a cheap South African au pair because she wanted legal things like overtime. Time to pay up, families!!

If your friend wanted ‘legal things’ she shouldn’t have accepted the position in the first place. People will treat you as bad as you let them.

[Anonymous]

There is no risk to host families arising out of the lawsuit. If (and its a big IF) the plaintiffs manage to get certified and proceed with the litigation, it is against the agencies not the host families. IF (and again a big IF) they prevail in a couple/few years, the program will probably change or perhaps even end. But there isnt any personal liability for any particular host family and I highly doubt they would send in country APs home.

Hopefully the very knowledgable lawyer on this thread will chime in and confirm. But really, dont over think this pp -- not an emergency situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no risk to host families arising out of the lawsuit. If (and its a big IF) the plaintiffs manage to get certified and proceed with the litigation, it is against the agencies not the host families. IF (and again a big IF) they prevail in a couple/few years, the program will probably change or perhaps even end. But there isnt any personal liability for any particular host family and I highly doubt they would send in country APs home.

Hopefully the very knowledgable lawyer on this thread will chime in and confirm. But really, dont over think this pp -- not an emergency situation.

I'm not so sure about this.

The agencies are trying to shift blame and responsibility, stating they are not the employer, but the HF is.

[Anonymous]

They can try to shift the blame (and rightly so since the issues that are in the press really are about abusive families, not the agencies), but the law suit itself is against the agencies and they wont be able to loop in individual host families technically. I'm not a class actions expert so I hope our resident lawyer will chime in on this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can try to shift the blame (and rightly so since the issues that are in the press really are about abusive families, not the agencies), but the law suit itself is against the agencies and they wont be able to loop in individual host families technically. I'm not a class actions expert so I hope our resident lawyer will chime in on this!

Regardless of the lawsuit, HFs pay the wages and may be liable for missing wages under FLSA. That’s what’s discouraging me from using the program again. I can hire a babysitter and pay even more than the minimum wage because I don’t have to pay the agency fee. But I can’t both pay the agency fee and pay minimum wage ($11.50 where I live) and all household expenses for the AP, and take them out to dinner, etc. That would make an AP way more expensive than a nanny but frankly much less qualified and also unable to do the housework that nannies can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp again- Forgot to add my nanny friend just got replaced with a cheap South African au pair because she wanted legal things like overtime. Time to pay up, families!!

If you were an AP, how are you here now working as a nanny? Marry someone? If so, good for you, but those days are over if the program ends

[b]

I was an aupair in a foreign country, I'm American. My friend was hired with the agreement of overtime. The family then decided they didn't want to pay that anymore and hired a cheap aupair. Sorry folks, the cheap 'cultural exchange' days are numbered!