APs won the lawsuit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. Every situation is different, but this is how my AP situation would have worked out if I had paid minimum wage, but also expected fair pay back for room and board etc.

$7.25/hr x 45 hr/wk x 4.5 wk/month = $1,468 paid to AP at minimum wage per month of work

And paid back to me each month by the AP would have been =
$1000/month separate basement apartment rental + ($20/day designated AP car rental × 30 days/month) + ($15/day food × 30 days/month) + $35/month cell phone + $42/month education =$2,127 owed to me per month from my au pairs.

So I could have come out $659 per month ahead, and had 45 hours a week of child care included. Well heck, if that's what au pairs want, then sign me back into the program even though my kids are in school now! I would be happy to have consistent after school care and make some profit on the side. Bring it on!

You can't ask for money from your au pair but she could ask you during matching if you will pay her $350 weekly. That's how this will work from now. Au pairs will negotiate and reject families who will pay only $195,75

So- won’t it be ironic if that ap now gets a cut of this settlement?

When we were in the program we kept meticulous records of hours worked and pay. We always made sure to treat the 199 as a minimum. All hours worked were at minimum wage, so all hours over 27.5 were paid at MW including OT for all hours over 40. It was very very easy to recruit when we explained how we adhere to the labor laws and don't use the program loophole to skirt it. It's the right thing to do no matter what the law says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. Every situation is different, but this is how my AP situation would have worked out if I had paid minimum wage, but also expected fair pay back for room and board etc.

$7.25/hr x 45 hr/wk x 4.5 wk/month = $1,468 paid to AP at minimum wage per month of work

And paid back to me each month by the AP would have been =
$1000/month separate basement apartment rental + ($20/day designated AP car rental × 30 days/month) + ($15/day food × 30 days/month) + $35/month cell phone + $42/month education =$2,127 owed to me per month from my au pairs.

So I could have come out $659 per month ahead, and had 45 hours a week of child care included. Well heck, if that's what au pairs want, then sign me back into the program even though my kids are in school now! I would be happy to have consistent after school care and make some profit on the side. Bring it on!

You can't ask for money from your au pair but she could ask you during matching if you will pay her $350 weekly. That's how this will work from now. Au pairs will negotiate and reject families who will pay only $195,75

So- won’t it be ironic if that ap now gets a cut of this settlement?

When we were in the program we kept meticulous records of hours worked and pay. We always made sure to treat the 199 as a minimum. All hours worked were at minimum wage, so all hours over 27.5 were paid at MW including OT for all hours over 40. It was very very easy to recruit when we explained how we adhere to the labor laws and don't use the program loophole to skirt it. It's the right thing to do no matter what the law says.

So- won’t it be ironic if that ap now gets a cut of this settlement?

[Anonymous]

Labor laws apply to a typical employee, not a live-in resident who is living in your house with a private room and often private bathroom and eating your food, getting a free cell phone, car insurance, and other perks like gym membership and travel.

Department of Labor regulations allow for room and board to be deducted. https://www.dol.gov/whd/homecare/credit_wages_faq.htm

This is how agencies came up with their "minimum" weekly salary. Federal minimum wage minus 40% for room and board.

We live in the city in DC where our AP's private room and bathroom could easily rent for $1000/month.

If we find that future AP candidates are negotiating for higher weekly wages, we will probably go with a combination of after-care and college sitter.

[Anonymous]

Every family is different, but I feel that with our family the au pairs really get a pretty good deal. They get basically their own floor of the house (the basement where their bedroom, the rec room and their private bathroom is), they get a smart phone, car, gas, food, etc. We take them on trips with us occasionally and always pay for them when we go on outings in DC or go out to dinner.

Their stipend of $200 a week is 100% play money for them to travel or hang out with their friends. In exchange they have to watch out kids for 2 hours in the morning to get them off to school and for maybe 3 hours in the afternoon after school. There is no other job that a foreigner could get that would allow them live and travel in the US for a year with benefits like that.

[Anonymous]

LOL, good luck. I left the AP program 2 years ago. Even college kids are charging $20/hr for PT babysitting. A minimum wage job around here is already at $15. Not a chance there are bargains out there.

I pay our sitter $21/hr for 3 hrs a day, so $315 a week. Doesnt include any weekend/extra work.

Oh and BTW, finding someone reliable is hard. That why you need to pay good money.



I would gladly pay $315, and have my own home, kitchen, car, vacations, all of which added up to well over $400 a week for 15-20 hours of “reliable” (as in a warm body) babysitting. Either the AP program needs to solely be an employer/employee transaction, or a cultural exchange with stipend, but the gray area of employee with luxury entitlements is truly off-putting.

[Anonymous]

How are APs different from live in nannies and why is there such a huge discrepancy in pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

LOL, good luck. I left the AP program 2 years ago. Even college kids are charging $20/hr for PT babysitting. A minimum wage job around here is already at $15. Not a chance there are bargains out there.

I pay our sitter $21/hr for 3 hrs a day, so $315 a week. Doesnt include any weekend/extra work.

Oh and BTW, finding someone reliable is hard. That why you need to pay good money.

I would gladly pay $315, and have my own home, kitchen, car, vacations, all of which added up to well over $400 a week for 15-20 hours of “reliable” (as in a warm body) babysitting. Either the AP program needs to solely be an employer/employee transaction, or a cultural exchange with stipend, but the gray area of employee with luxury entitlements is truly off-putting.


$315/ week is still well south of what you would pay for an au pair, just between stipend and agency fee and not counting other expenses. I think APs don't have the negotiating power to demand an equivalent rate because they are very dependent on the family. There's no way I would pay an AP even $10 an hour, because I don't need the flexibility. I need consistency. And for that, the best options are camps, before and after care, etc. Camps don't get sick, they don't go on vacation. Most host families won't choose between a nanny and an AP, they will choose between center (camp, etc) based care. If APs try to negotiate as if the alternatives are nannies, they misunderstand the target market of the AP program and there will be fewer matches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are APs different from live in nannies and why is there such a huge discrepancy in pay?

You should google this, but the short answer- APs are not professionals, APs are to be treated as full members of the family, the contract is set by the agency and can't be altered, there are extra constraints on the relationship due to program rules (nannies have labor laws which are less restrictive), and nannies are considered employees in an at-will contract.

[Anonymous]

While the stipened itself was the same what APs were making per hour is VASTLY different. Especially if you divide out per child (like you would at a daycare).

Our AP made less 'per hour' some weeks due to heavy work schedules using hte 45 hours. But others, she barely reached 20 hours for the SAME pay.
Where else can you get a salaried position for daycare that is capped on hours? If you ask me the AP deal was quite sweet for what a lot are/were working and the perks they got for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While the stipened itself was the same what APs were making per hour is VASTLY different. Especially if you divide out per child (like you would at a daycare).

Our AP made less 'per hour' some weeks due to heavy work schedules using hte 45 hours. But others, she barely reached 20 hours for the SAME pay.
Where else can you get a salaried position for daycare that is capped on hours? If you ask me the AP deal was quite sweet for what a lot are/were working and the perks they got for free.

So, who gets the payout? It doesn't seem fair that APs who worked 45 hours a week and those who only worked 20 get the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Labor laws apply to a typical employee, not a live-in resident who is living in your house with a private room and often private bathroom and eating your food, getting a free cell phone, car insurance, and other perks like gym membership and travel.

Department of Labor regulations allow for room and board to be deducted. https://www.dol.gov/whd/homecare/credit_wages_faq.htm

This is how agencies came up with their "minimum" weekly salary. Federal minimum wage minus 40% for room and board.

We live in the city in DC where our AP's private room and bathroom could easily rent for $1000/month.

If we find that future AP candidates are negotiating for higher weekly wages, we will probably go with a combination of after-care and college sitter.

So is the above what APIA means when they say the following in their Program Support and Policies Doc?

Au Pairs on the au pair program are to be compensated by the host family at a weekly rate based upon 45 hours of child care services per week
and paid in conformance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as interpreted and implemented by the U.S. Department of State.

[Anonymous]

Had a meeting with my lcc today and she mentioned the lawsuit and stressed the stipend was the minimum and that changes will likely be coming but she doesn't know what or when.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Labor laws apply to a typical employee, not a live-in resident who is living in your house with a private room and often private bathroom and eating your food, getting a free cell phone, car insurance, and other perks like gym membership and travel.

Department of Labor regulations allow for room and board to be deducted. https://www.dol.gov/whd/homecare/credit_wages_faq.htm

This is how agencies came up with their "minimum" weekly salary. Federal minimum wage minus 40% for room and board.

We live in the city in DC where our AP's private room and bathroom could easily rent for $1000/month.

If we find that future AP candidates are negotiating for higher weekly wages, we will probably go with a combination of after-care and college sitter.

Actually the formula is not based on market rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

LOL, good luck. I left the AP program 2 years ago. Even college kids are charging $20/hr for PT babysitting. A minimum wage job around here is already at $15. Not a chance there are bargains out there.

I pay our sitter $21/hr for 3 hrs a day, so $315 a week. Doesnt include any weekend/extra work.

Oh and BTW, finding someone reliable is hard. That why you need to pay good money.

I would gladly pay $315, and have my own home, kitchen, car, vacations, all of which added up to well over $400 a week for 15-20 hours of “reliable” (as in a warm body) babysitting. Either the AP program needs to solely be an employer/employee transaction, or a cultural exchange with stipend, but the gray area of employee with luxury entitlements is truly off-putting.

$315/ week is still well south of what you would pay for an au pair, just between stipend and agency fee and not counting other expenses. I think APs don't have the negotiating power to demand an equivalent rate because they are very dependent on the family. There's no way I would pay an AP even $10 an hour, because I don't need the flexibility. I need consistency. And for that, the best options are camps, before and after care, etc. Camps don't get sick, they don't go on vacation. Most host families won't choose between a nanny and an AP, they will choose between center (camp, etc) based care. If APs try to negotiate as if the alternatives are nannies, they misunderstand the target market of the AP program and there will be fewer matches.

Yes. But your kids get sick. That is the benefit of having an AP.. just this week alone has been a tremendous benefit with the snow day and delays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

LOL, good luck. I left the AP program 2 years ago. Even college kids are charging $20/hr for PT babysitting. A minimum wage job around here is already at $15. Not a chance there are bargains out there.

I pay our sitter $21/hr for 3 hrs a day, so $315 a week. Doesnt include any weekend/extra work.

Oh and BTW, finding someone reliable is hard. That why you need to pay good money.

I would gladly pay $315, and have my own home, kitchen, car, vacations, all of which added up to well over $400 a week for 15-20 hours of “reliable” (as in a warm body) babysitting. Either the AP program needs to solely be an employer/employee transaction, or a cultural exchange with stipend, but the gray area of employee with luxury entitlements is truly off-putting.

Lol! You are forgetting taxes, summer, teacher work days, snow days, and sick days. Do the math on a 45hr summer car at market rates.