Dozens of host familes and au pairs gathered at the State House for what Au Pair Families of Massachusetts is calling an "advocacy day" to meet with officials after a federal court ruled in December that minimum wage laws apply to au pairs.
Clad in purple shirts and clutching signs that read "We ♡ Our Aur Pairs," the group gathered on the Grand Staircase inside the State House to speak with members of the press before breaking into meetings with lawmakers to support a pair of bills that would mitigate the effects of the ruling.
Among them were Catherine and Casey Stanley, of Norwell, who were at the protest with their third au pair, Lea Pitou, who came to the U.S. from France a few months ago and looks after the couples two daughters, who are three -and-a-half and almost two-years-old respectively.
Catherine said the ruling has "definitely thrown us for a loop."
"I mean, Lea's seen me in tears trying to understand, 'How are we doing this, what is the next step?'" she said. "We are aligned and we are good and we are figuring it out and we're here to understand how do we go forward and protect the essence of the program with making some changes, for sure. But yeah, we've got a road ahead of us with what's happening today and in the next steps."
The couple said there are families who have already had to leave the au pair program because they could not make it work financially in light of the recent changes.
The Stanley's said they paid almost $10,000 to get into their program, provide a weekly stipend of about $200 and costs that accrue from access to their home, their car and other expenses. They described Pitou as "another daughter."
"Our daughters look at our au pairs...as big sisters," Catherine said. "It's tear jerking when you look at them and how awesome it is."
Catherine says the ruling could make the cost of an au pair to go up to between $50,000 to $60,000 per family depending on the situation, which she says isn't affordable.
Casey says his family and the group want to educate lawmakers and the public about the au pair program.
"This is not just a program for wealthy families," he said. "There's a lot of blue collar families that dad may go to work at midnight, mom may go to work regular hours and that overlap, they can't go through regular childcare and the au pair program is what has worked for them. ... It's allowed us to stay close with our kids and not have to go to daycare."
Casey made clear what he believes the changes would do to the au pair program.
"We love this program and we want it to continue and this is gonna ultimately destroy the program in Mass. in my opinion," he said.
Pitou was there with the Stanley's and helped to take care of the children while they talked to the press. She said she and other au pairs are scared.
"Because we don't know what's gonna happen," she said. "We just want [to] continue like this because it's a really good program to be an au pair and everybody (loves) that."
