Anonymous wrote:everyone who thinks it's ethical to pay someone $7.25/hour should try supporting their own family on minimum wage (before taxes). let's see how quickly they change their tune. if you can't afford a nanny and won't deign to put your child in daycare, then stay home or stay childless. your children are not god's gift to the earth, and if you want someone else to raise them for a living you better make sure it IS a living.

Exactly.

OP's nanny is an adult, she can make her own decisions. If she chooses to work for minimum wage versus a fast food joint that pays more that is her choice.

If everyone is truly worried about the wage write your congressman and work to raise it, but minimum wage is perfectly fine and many people are currently paid that.

Unethical would be to pay her 18 dollars an hour and make sure she doesn't get enough hours to support herself or be classified as full time (many companies do that and everyone is okay with that scenario).

Anonymous wrote:everyone who thinks it's ethical to pay someone $7.25/hour should try supporting their own family on minimum wage (before taxes). let's see how quickly they change their tune. if you can't afford a nanny and won't deign to put your child in daycare, then stay home or stay childless. your children are not god's gift to the earth, and if you want someone else to raise them for a living you better make sure it IS a living.

23.59 (again). OP is specifically looking for a live-in nanny, so the nanny isn’t going to be supporting a family here, and if she is sending money overseas to family at home? $7.25 USD goes a heck of lot farther there than here.

Most professional nannies wouldn’t be interested. But if OP is willing to take a recent immigrant with little to no English, a college student or someone with zero childcare experience? There are people who would jump for this position. Factor in that it’s paid legally, and it’s $7.25/hour AFTER taxes? It’s a decent starting job for someone.

everyone who thinks it's ethical to pay someone $7.25/hour should try supporting their own family on minimum wage (before taxes). let's see how quickly they change their tune. if you can't afford a nanny and won't deign to put your child in daycare, then stay home or stay childless. your children are not god's gift to the earth, and if you want someone else to raise them for a living you better make sure it IS a living.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people on this Board- c'mon. OP is paying minimum wage, plus room and board (and transport). That is acceptable, both legally and ethically.

Most of us clearly disagree.

Most of you are American nannies - in my experience American nannies are entitled and difficult.
What’s OP is doing is perfectly legal.

Anonymous wrote:people on this Board- c'mon. OP is paying minimum wage, plus room and board (and transport). That is acceptable, both legally and ethically.

Most of us clearly disagree.

people on this Board- c'mon. OP is paying minimum wage, plus room and board (and transport). That is acceptable, both legally and ethically.

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you don't think that paying someone a living wage is "real advice" then i'm not sure what you are looking for. you asked what you would have to pay someone, and people responded.

praying on someone who is from a developing country is a truly low class move. and trying to justify it? even more so.

+1000, very well said.

* preying

OP, if you don't think that paying someone a living wage is "real advice" then i'm not sure what you are looking for. you asked what you would have to pay someone, and people responded.

praying on someone who is from a developing country is a truly low class move. and trying to justify it? even more so.

Do you have a friend or relative who could help you out, and be paid whatever you can afford?

Anonymous wrote:to everyone saying "good for her for getting a good deal"-you are the problem. paying someone $7.25 an hour is despicable and shameful, not a smart thrifty move. your children see how you treat people, and they will behave accordingly.
if you can't afford to pay someone a reasonable, livable wage, then you should stay home with your own kids-or not have kids at all.

We sponsored her from a fishing village in a developing country where she was earning less than $50/month. Pretty sure she is happy to be making far more here, and supporting her family back home. The kids are taught to respect her and they love her. My middling salary has allowed me to work and provide her a job she otherwise would not have.

As far as I'm concerned, she's irreplaceable, and I'm really sad she's moving away. But I started this thread to get an idea of how much it would cost to hire someone else for this role. I can see that I won't be able to afford a "reasonable, livable wage" if it's over $20/hr, so I'm looking at alternatives.

Thanks to those who have offered real advice. I was perusing the Au Pair forum and was a little concerned about a thread that mentions a possible class action lawsuit that could potentially result in significant changes for the program. Anyone else worried about that? So I'm still thinking about the best way to go. Quitting my job is not an option.

Anonymous wrote:to everyone saying "good for her for getting a good deal"-you are the problem. paying someone $7.25 an hour is despicable and shameful, not a smart thrifty move. your children see how you treat people, and they will behave accordingly.
if you can't afford to pay someone a reasonable, livable wage, then you should stay home with your own kids-or not have kids at all.

Agree.

Anonymous wrote:We have a nanny 50 hours a week for two kids in school or camp full time and we pay her $18 plus time and a half for overtime. We also have a housekeeping service every other week so no cleaning needed. We went the part time route for a while and it was a disaster.

Why?

We have a nanny 50 hours a week for two kids in school or camp full time and we pay her $18 plus time and a half for overtime. We also have a housekeeping service every other week so no cleaning needed. We went the part time route for a while and it was a disaster.