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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Another reason why State Dept. should shut down the Au Pair program.[/quote]

What are the primary reasons?[/quote]

1.  US Labor laws do not apply to Au Pairs.
2.  Essentily, APs are indentured servants.
3.  45 hours a week is too much.  Their. Hours should be no more tjan 30 hours/wk.
4.  All weekends should be off time.

[/quote]
Agree with all four points.[/quote]

US Labor laws don't "apply" to au pairs because they are in a very specific program with its own laws.

Not really sure what you are trying to say with #2.  "An indentured servant was a worker, typically a laborer or tradesman, under contract to an employer for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities."  So yeah, au pairs are in a "contract" for a fixed period of time in exchange for food, lodging, other expenses.  They also get paid a stipend.  And the host family pays about $8,000 in agency fees.

Disagree on points 3 and 4.

On what are you basing your statement that "45 hours a week is too much?"  That is, as you know, the maximum they can work.  Many families require much less.  Our au pair works for 20 hours a week, for example.  Fortunately, host family applications require clear statement of approximately how many hours an au pair has to work.  If they really don't want to work 45, then they can not match with those families.  Or if they find it's too much when they get here, they can rematch.  There are many many more young adults who want to be au pairs than there are host families willing to take on the time and expense.  Already 45 hours is just barely enough to cover a two--fulltime-working-parent household, so if you reduce that maximum any more, even fewer host families will be interested in having an au pair.  Meaning many many more disappointed au pairs.

One of the big sells to host families is the flexibility.  AGAIN, au pairs are free to match with the situation they want.  If they don't want to work weekends, they can decline matches with host families that require it.  There are many host families that use up all their hours during the week, so they should have no trouble finding a host family that doesn't require weekends.[/quote]

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