Au Pair Class Action Could Upend Decades-Old Program

A newly certified class, estimated to total more than 90,000 foreign workers, is alleging that a wage-fixing conspiracy artificially depressed earnings in the U.S. Au Pair program. The lawsuit, one of a number of efforts by plaintiffs’ lawyers to use antitrust laws to target treatment of employees, represents a challenge to the Au Pair program overseen by the U.S. Department of State.

Colorado-based federal district judge Christine Arguello certified the class on Feb. 2, allowing the lawsuit to proceed on behalf of current and former au pairs. The plaintiffs are suing 15 private agencies authorized by the State Department to administer the program, which allows foreign workers under the age of 27 to enter the U.S. on J-1 cultural exchange visas to provide live-in child care to host families. “They control the entire market for au pair labor,” says attorney Nina DiSalvo, executive director of Towards Justice, a Denver-based legal nonprofit representing the au pairs. The law firm Boies Schiller Flexner has joined with Towards Justice to represent the plaintiffs.