Anonymous wrote:Love this!!! Great news for nannies!

Not necessarily. We certainly won’t replace our au pair with a nanny. We have an au pair at the point for convenience (school age kids) and for the CULTURAL EXCHANGE (great for our kids to learn about au pair’s country and culture). We won’t hire a nanny if we end up no longer hosting an au pair.

Love this!!! Great news for nannies!

So now will families need to have binding contracts with APs and will APs fish around for a better rate and not only a better location?
Do families need legal assistance in writing up a contract. What is to have the AP sue the family later stating they promised her/him a higher rate than they were paid?
This just seems nuts.
I am not saying the fee shouldn't be higher, but then families should get to charge for food, cell phones, cars etc. I wish it was a bit more equitable across the board so APs are really choosing an experience and not perks.

The press release is misleading in that they're not paid per hour, it's flat, as we all know.

Does anyone know specifically what the settlement requires? Is it that the agencies tell the APs they can negotiate on the stipend amount? It doesn't look like it addresses the question of whether the current system meets federal minimum wage requirements, or whether state minimums apply, is that right?

Do they all get the same amount? Mine never worked more than 25 hours a week specifically because I ensure I pay the minimum wage-- not fair for her to get a cut of this. (I don't say that to be mean-spirited.)

Press release is interesting:

https://www.bsfllp.com/news-events/historic-655-million-settlement-earns-fair-wages-and-equitable-treatment-for-a-class-of-au-pairs.html

“The vast majority of au pairs are paid the same rate of $4.35 per hour. The sponsor defendants allegedly conspired to illegally fix standard au pair wages at or near the $4.35 rate, lied about au pairs’ ability to negotiate a higher wage, and illegally set wages below the minimum wage. At the illegally-fixed rate, standard au pairs are paid about $9,980 per year. Sponsor agencies charge both au pairs and host families’ fees. One sponsor, for example, charged host families an $8,245 “Program Fee Annual” plus a $400 “Match Fee” — which means that the sponsor agencies are paid almost as much in fees as au pairs are for their labor.”

Guess more APs will be asking how much they’re going to get paid during matching?

Anonymous wrote:Woopdido?

Congrats “abused” APs.

Lawyers typically take 33% of a settlement.

$43,230,000 / 100,000 APs

$432.30 per AP

Well, that’s assuming all APs we’re here the same amount of time. Many leave in the first few months, others stay for the full two years and even then, return when eligible. For some of these women an extra $1,000 means a lot.

The agencies won't jack up their prices. And the settlement will not result in long-term changes to the programs. They will change the au pair contracts to explicitly prohibit lawsuits (forced arbitration in, e.g., Connecticut). They will lobby Congress for a clearer exemption. One district court judge who did not issue a final, binding opinion is not the end-all on whether or not au pairs have to be paid federal state and minimum wage - just deducting room and board in DC alone would make the au pair salary competitive, let alone car insurance, phone, and all of the other itemized expenses that families could deduct if salaries were read to require state and federal minimum wages, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Sure hope the exchange rate for some boosts that up to more than pennies on the dollar for then.

Bravo, for $500 you effectively screwed thousands of young men/women and made it more difficult for them to come to America for the program.

Who is going to continue to host after this?

Why? Doesn't seem like any long-term ramifications to families, other than I bet the agency jacks up prices.

Sounds like the agencies “won.”

APs barely get anything for their year AND host families get screwed because agencies can increase fees substantially.

Trump wins too... fewer illegal immigrants when APs can’t come over on a legal visa then never leave on their flight home.

Sure hope the exchange rate for some boosts that up to more than pennies on the dollar for then.

Bravo, for $500 you effectively screwed thousands of young men/women and made it more difficult for them to come to America for the program.

Who is going to continue to host after this?

Anonymous wrote:$432.30 per AP

$432.30 per AP per year
$36.03 per AP per month
$8.38 per AP per week
$0.19 per AP per hour (for a 45 hr week)

...

A settlement does not equal winning. It means both sides agreed to end litigation with a deal.

Woopdido?

Congrats “abused” APs.

Lawyers typically take 33% of a settlement.

$43,230,000 / 100,000 APs

$432.30 per AP

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/international-au-pairs-win-65-5m-settlement-in-denver-suit/

DENVER (AP) — Young people from around the world who provided low-cost child care for American families will share in a proposed $65.5 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by a dozen former au pairs against the companies that bring the workers to the United States.

Nearly 100,000 au pairs, mostly women, who worked in American homes over the past decade will be entitled to payment under the proposed settlement filed in Denver federal court Wednesday, a month before the case brought by a dozen former au pairs from Colombia, Australia, Germany, South Africa and Mexico was set to go to trial.


They claimed 15 companies authorized to bring au pairs to the United States colluded to keep their wages low, ignoring overtime and state minimum wage laws and treating the federal minimum wage for au pairs as a maximum amount they can earn. In some cases, the lawsuit said, families pushed the limits of their duties, requiring au pairs to do things like feed backyard chickens, help families move and do gardening, and not allowing them to eat with the family.

“This settlement, the hard-fought victory of our clients who fought for years on behalf of about 100,000 fellow au pairs, will be perhaps the largest settlement ever on behalf of minimum wage workers and will finally give au pairs the opportunity to seek higher wages and better working conditions,” said David Seligman, director of Denver-based Towards Justice, which filed the lawsuit in 2014. It was later litigated by New York-based firm Boies Schiller Flexner.