The family who posted the "Bad Room" was a highly illegal posting. I copy and pasted the law and made a "RE:____" posting. I called them out on the wage posted, used a .gov site that had all the laws posted, and summarized it.
After my RE:post many caregivers e-mailed me thanking me for the laws they didn't know about. One told me how she just finished up a court case and won. I then got the e-mail from the OG family, upset, but they still fixed their post.
The new job is barely legal, a few labor laws with the wage are unanswered. The new wage of the job averages to about $10.12/hour and the going rate for a nanny in this area is $13-18/hour for a child.
My RE Posting:
The original poster is looking for a care provider to live in the home, rent free, while proving 25 hours a week of work. At the wage posted of $12/hour the room is said be be $1,200/month. Bellow I will break down how this is unacceptable from a very legal stand point. I do hope this family reads this and re-thinks the job they are posting. If this family is not smart enough to re-think their job posting, I hope the hire a caregiver who knows the law and has the guts to sue them for back wages.
The use of an employee's car is to be paid at 57.5 cents per mile, the original job requires the person to have their own car-- On average a nanny or child care provider will drive about 10 miles round trip with children in the car. The use of the car at minimum is $115/month(on average).
According to this web page: https://www.dir.ca.gov/t8/11040.html ; §11040. Order Regulating Wages, Hours, and Working Conditions in Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical, and Similar Occupations, under line 10::
10. Meals and Lodging.
(A) "Meal" means an adequate, well-balanced serving of a variety of wholesome, nutritious foods.
(B) "Lodging" means living accommodations available to the employee for full-time occupancy which are adequate, decent, and sanitary according to usual and customary standards. Employees shall not be required to share a bed.
(C) Meals or lodging may not be credited against the minimum wage without a voluntary written agreement between the employer and the employee. When credit for meals or lodging is used to meet part of the employer's minimum wage obligation, the amounts so credited may not be more than the following:
Meals: Breakfast ($2.45) + Lunch ($3.35) + Dinner ( $4.50) = Daily $10.30, 7 days a week= $72.10, 28 days (1 month) = $288.40
Room: Occupied alone $31.75/week; aka $127/month.
OR
Apartment: Apartment - two-thirds (2/3) of the ordinary rental value, and in no event more than $381.20/month.
In other words:
A.) Meals+Room= $415.40/month in value. Job should be paying an additional $784.60/month for 25 hours a week, at the base rate of $12/hour
B.) Meals+ Apartment = $669. 60/month in value. Job should be paying an additional $530.40/month for 25 hours a week, at the base rate of $12/hour.
C.) MILES and use of the employee's car NEEDS to be paid according to the IRS's mileage rate currently 57.5 cents per mile driven for the job.
I am a fairly reasonable person who is able to see the middle ground, if this was a private room with a private attached bathroom I could see if falling between the governments listing of Apartment/Room. Being reasonable, for such a private room I'd go as far to say an additional income of just $657.50 would be a fair compromise.
But lets really look at this job's posting. $12/hour for child care, meal prep, and house cleaning? House cleaners make $20-25/hour, and that is all they do. Personal chefs, also make a conservative amount averaging $20-25/hour (I am assuming this family wants the meal prep done for the parents, not just the children-- this is why I bring it up). Both House Cleaners and Personal Chefs however, do not usually work on an hourly rate but a flat rate biased on the job.
Nannies, with experience greater then 2 years with CPR certification and trust-line certified (all nannies should have at minimum both of these), make on average $13-18/hour for ONE child. I have been a nanny here for 10 years, I have been a live-in for 4 of those years, working 25 hours a week for JUST a room is unexceptionable and even for the rates I spelled out legally.
13 comments:
this is shocking and bizarre !!! please comment !!!!!!
This is just insane. In what world is working 25 hours for just a room ok? Or even working 30 hours for just $200 and a room. Some parents are just crazy, wanting a nanny but not the price tag, even trying to get away with a slaves wage. Brovo, OP sticking it to the internet and evoking a small change in the job posting.
The formatting of this post made it sort of hard to read and overwhelming to take in all the numbers etc after awhile. But I think I get the main point, and yes what they are offering is crazy. I never understand why anyone would take a job for only room and board but it does happen. Its slave labor to me. If you take reasonable room and board out of a typical nanny wage for a live in and they still get paid decent then sure why not. I personally would never take a live in job but it works well for some. Just too many issues and questions like free tome, food, laundry etc that comes up in a live in situation.
OP here:
The original post had paragraphs that are shown here.
Leigh, you mentioned a previous problem with getting paragraphs to show up correctly.
When you are editing a post, try choosing the "Visual" tab at the top right of the post editing screen. In the Visual mode, you should be able to create line breaks for new paragraphs by using the enter key. If this is not working for you, switch to "Text" mode. In Text mode, you can add line breaks with very simple html tags.
Here is a link that explains:
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_paragraphs.asp
I have to say, maybe a lot of illegal immigrants take this type of job? I think it is a very sad situation all around, but without proper visas it can be hard to get any job.
I think Au Pairs in America make only $200 a week for 45 hours of work, including weekends and evenings. But they do get the experience to live in another country. So this job ad doesn't seem that far off from the Au Pair situation. Maybe this family posted this ad since they didn't require all the hours an Au Pair can work for.
What I don't understand is what business it is of yours?? Some people are not qualified for the higher-paying jobs, maybe they need a room. You don't understand how capitalism works - the true value of the room and work is whatever someone will agree to. If no one agrees to do it, then they will raise the amount paid. If someone wants to do this, why are you getting in the way?
It's weird to stalk around trying to get everyone to follow the rules. Really weird. Get a life.
OP here:
So you think its ok for families to pay nannies illegal wages: aka bellow minimum wage or no wage at all. The federal government and state governments have set out laws to ensure people are at least paid appropriately in the work force.
I was once the young dumb one who worked in an agreement like this before; found out it was illegal and took them to court and won. Really I did the family a favor, the changed their add; in the process I educated some people.
I am a bit of an employment activist. I research the labor laws of my area, I learn them, I know them. I inform others about them when then opportunity opens. Nannies are one of the biggest group of exploited workers.
My point was that if someone agrees to work for one penny a year, that is on them. They will be given a room to live in, that is worth something.
No one is forced to take this job, no one is even forced to answer the ad. There may be someone who is like - hey this way I can get a roof over my head and some work experience under my belt. Maybe someone who is not legal here. Different circumstances for different folks.
Sure a person is not forced to take the job... But you bring up the point someone might look at this like a place to live, and think its a good deal. That same person might not know any wage laws, employment laws, ect. Even if the work agreement is free rent, taxes on both halves need to be paid; in this situation it was unlikely.
You have no idea how many people don't know any laws regarding employment. I have worked a Fast Food job, just to educate 'co-workers' and bring it down. Its shocking how many employment laws get broken, even more shocking the look on the employers face when they have been outed.
Point is, the family was trying to get a slave. I posted the law, flat out, simple, the law. Heck if I didn't have a job right now, I would have applied for it just to take them to court as I have before. If an employee goes into a work agreement that isn't legal, the law is on the employee's side every time, without fail.
Oh and the people here illegally need to go back and re-enter the legal way. My grandparents had to go through the legal process of immigration to legally enter this country, with their 6 children(my dad too).
OP
To the OP -
Are you employeed in law enforcement? You sound like a vigilante. That is kind of strange. Are you going to follow law breakers around and harass them? Do you follow people around who run red lights? I think you need to get a LIFE. Let the police deal with this stuff.
People skirt around laws like this all the time because it is beneficial to both parties. There are many people here illegally, and although that is a problem, you sticking your nose in won't solve it. All you are doing is harming people trying to live.
Getting a room out of the deal is not slave-labor. Trading goods for services is not a radical idea. Ridiculous that it would be taxed. How many people do you think actually pay taxes on that?
I thought this was a site for outing nannies who are harming the kids, or putting them at risk.
What has this site turned into?? A place for people to complain about the families they work for? A place for people to stalk and out families who they think are doing wrong?
Do you know how many families trade services instead of payment? Or how many families actually pay under the table rather than tax? Most of the families I know do this. It is common practice.
This is a bunch of nonsense!
thanks for sharing
gclub
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