Does Your Au Pair Work "Overtime?"
Hi there! One of our readers sent us an email about an article she read on AuPairMom.com's blog (we really love this blog and the author, CV, provides tons of insighful advice to her faithful readers). The blog has to do with au pairs working overtime. Yes, we do know that host parents break the law, and ask their au pairs to work over the 45 hours a week (10 hours a day) limit. However, we were surprised at the response AuPairMom.com received at how many host parents actually "indulge" in this practice!
Check it out for yourself: http://aupairmom.com/extra-hours-whats-fair-pay-when-you-break-this-taboo/2010/02/13/celiaharquail/ and let us know if you agree or disagree with allowing au pairs to work over the U.S. Dept. of State restrictions (put into place to protect children from overworked and exhausted young au pairs).
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
Edina
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Comments
au pair mom
Hi, au pair mom, who may be from Cultural Care, is telling host parents "how" to overwork their au pairs! That is what my Cultural Care LCC told me to do too. They see these girls as slaves and doing domestic work does not phase the company at all. If they are treating the girls this way, can you imagine how they treat and process and exploit au pairs in other ways?
Most of us don't hear about these complaints, but they really do not care all that much about either customer they have - the au pair or the host parent.
Aupair mom clearly stating how to cheat your au pair and the government and doing it quite publically on her blog, is just a tip of the cultural care "iceberg" - they think they can get away with anything!
I actually read her blog from time to time and I do find it very informative but was surprised also at her lack of professionalism and lapse in judgment.
I also get confused, she states she has an au pair (if you read her recent blogs she seems to indicate she has these problems with her own au pair) but in another post she says she does not have an au pair any longer. Confusing and not sure what her purpose is here on her blog. I would get So Sick of talking "au pair" all the time and she blogs every day! Too much. I would need a vacation from even thinking about my au pair and she has to write a blog daily on the subject! UGH.
I don't advocate it, but I am guilty of this "crime
I will admit it, I have been guilty of asking my au pair to work more than 10 hours a day. Sometimes 12, even 15 hours a day. I work in the city and don't get home until way after PM. I have, on a number of occasions, taken a room in Manhattan, to avoid the commute and my au pair does double duty. But, my kids are older, 13 & 16. No danger here of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
How do I get away with more hours? I pay her of course. Au pairs are more than happy to get compensated financially!
Of course, I do not advocate this practice to families with young children, I think Aupairmom's blogger, CV, should have made a disclaimer on this account! Telling host families how to get more hours and not letting young parents know of the danger of having a young girl care for a baby is not professional.
However, I do think her honesty is refreshing and a great and necessary rebuke to all au pair agencies! They are most certainly aware of this illegal and dangerous practice, but they turn their heads to the truth, hoping nothing will happen......
Good for CV at Aupairmom for coming out and not only writing about what is going on inside host parents homes illegally but to tell us how best to circumvent the US. Dept of State! Hurrah!
We never allow our au pair to work overtime!
I did check out this link and also, you should note that the au pair mom who runs the blog, aupairmom, not only works her au pairs overtime, but she actually advocates this practice to other host parents!
Surprising since this blog has always been professional in the past, what a faux pas now.
Never let your au pair work overtime - not only can you be thrown out of the cultural exchange program, you will be directly responsible if the au pair harms a child in her care and she or the program can prove she did it under duress of working over her alloted work hours.
The USA government regulates these hours for a reason, as you said Edina, to protect both the au pairs (from legal suits, like the Louise Woodward case) and to protect young infants and children from harm. Yes, these young au pairs get frustrated and tired easily and do not have the emotional strength to withstand constant demands of young children.
Very unprofessional advice I would say.
very slippery slope
Whether AuPairMom advocates this or not (or if this website where to advocate this practice) telling other host parents to break the law can put the owners of the business at risk if there was an incident involving the safety of a child. As a lawyer, I would say it is not only illegal but pretty stupid of any blogger to advocate breaking the law to their readers.
As a host dad, I would never ask my au pair to engage in illegal activities, such as working over the U.S. Dept. of State regulations. Have I been tempted? Of course. When I am running late from court, etc., I am very tempted to call ahead and ask the au pair to work another 3 hours on top of the 10 she has already put in! I have young children and I know how hard it is to be with children for that long! It takes a lot out of parents, who love them unconditionally and have more maturity and better judgment, but to ask an au pair to do this is just asking for trouble.
The parents that engage in this illegal activity are the type of parents that are the first to sue the agency and the au pair who hurt their child under conditions that they themselves have put into play.
au pair in america counselor told me how
When I was with au pair in america, my counselor did tell me how to get more hours from my au pair. She told me to pay her extra for any overtime. she never said it was illegal. my au pair actually told me "no" she will not work overtime since it is illegal. She was thai and had to go home anyway after a terrible car accident she had with our car - she said she could drive and the agency told us shew as an "Excellent " driver but they lied and so did she. She admitted the agency told her to lie, about the driving and the counselor told me to work her overtime if I could not get out of work ontime. What kind of agency is this anyway? To all new parents looking for an agency, avoid Au pair in america, there are better choices.