Families protest ruling that gives au pairs minimum wage

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. >> When Stephanie Mayberg, a physician assistant, learned that a court ruling meant her child care costs were about to increase 250%, she was stunned. The recent federal court decision that au pairs were entitled to the rights of domestic workers in Massachusetts, including being paid a minimum wage, left Mayberg, of Southborough, Massachusetts, wondering how she and her husband could afford to keep their au pair from Colombia for a second year.

But Claudia Villamizar was elated when she heard of the ruling: Villamizar, who had once been an au pair in Massachusetts from Colombia, recalled being miserable when a family had required her to work 65 hours a week — far more than the 45 hours allowed under the federal au pair program. She said the family had kicked her out of the house when she complained.

“Being an au pair was the worst experience I ever had in my 38 years of my life,” Villamizar said.

Of the legal finding that au pairs — young people from other countries who come to the United States to live with families and care for their children — were entitled to a minimum wage and protected by Massachusetts’ Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, passed in 2014, she added: “I’m a big supporter, because au pairs are unprotected.”

The December ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a lawsuit by an au pair agency against the Massachusetts attorney general. The lawsuit sought to prevent the attorney general from applying the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to au pairs.

Under a federal program administered by the State Department, au pairs are paid a stipend of roughly $195 per week, in addition to receiving room and board. Host families also must pay up to $500 a year toward an au pair’s academic work.

In Massachusetts, the decision has thrown families who host au pairs into chaos as they sort through their new responsibilities as employers and cope with significantly increased child care costs.

They rallied at the Massachusetts State House to urge lawmakers to pass bills that would mitigate the effects of the decision.

Several parents said the ruling fundamentally misconstrued the nature of the au pair program, which was designed as a cultural exchange, allowing young people to pursue their education while experiencing everyday life in an American family.