Nanny Job Gone Wrong

[capotek1]

New Jersey

I was living with a family as a nanny for a little over a year. I used to babysit for this family for about 6 months before they asked me to move in with them. I had some problems at home and they "opened" their home to me (as they like to put it).

Originally I was getting paid every 2 weeks $350 for doing household chores, cooking, cleaning, doing groceries, picking up dry cleaning...basically doing whatever they asked. Their was never a written agreement or contract. She lost her job about 3 months into me living in their home and I was no longer getting paid for my services. She never asked me for rent and I came to an assumed agreement that I would do some household chores in lieu of rent. This was back in July.

In August I lost my job because I felt pressured to give her a discount at the clothing store I used to work at and I lost my job when they found out about it. I was low on money and they had given me their credit card to make some purchases for the house. I purchased something for myself because my debit card came back declined. I let them know within 2 days of me purchasing the item. I apologized and explained the situation I was in and asked if I could make a couple other purchases including food supplies food etc. He was fine with it and just told me not to purchase something without his consent again. I told him when the statement came I would pay whatever purchases where mine on the bill in full and on time. When the statement came I payed it in full and on time and I have the front/back of the check and the day they deposited it in their account.

The last 3 months of me living there I became very busy with school and work. I was trying to save up enough money to move into an apartment so I was working as much as I could. I told them I would be very busy and they seemed to have no problem with it. On June 7th she sent me an email claiming that they were charging me rent for the month of june in the amount of $350 because she felt as if I was treating their house like a "rooming" house. I worked from 7am-10pm 6 days a week and they knew this well in advance and they seemed to have no problem with it. In fact she encouraged getting the 3 jobs. I really didn't understand considering our living arrangement has always been household chores in lieu of rent and never has included payment. When she stopped giving me laundry, I assumed she was adjusting my chore load, because in the past my chores have changed based on everyone's schedules. I didn't realize she felt I wasn't doing my part of the agreement. I wish she would have expressed her concerns earlier rather than waiting 3 months. Had she come to me sooner, I could have adjusted my schedule to meet her expectations. Since it was never brought to my attention, I had no idea she expected more.

When I received her email of expectation of rent I did not respond because I knew I was not going to be able to afford it and wanted to ask for someone else's opinion before I responded to her email. So as soon as I made other living arrangements I left immediately. On Monday June 11th after I left for work at 7am, I got home at 8:00 and immediately finished packing my things. The last thing I packed was the bathroom. When I started packing the bathroom I noticed that there was a leak under the sink. I shut of the 2 water valves under the sink. It was 11:30 when I noticed. The carpet leading into the bedroom was wet also. I did not notice any of this till I was almost done packing. I shut the water off and because of the late hour I was going to call them first thing in the morning to inform them of the leak. She texted me about the leak in the middle of the night before I was able to inform them of it. I sent them an email first thing in the morning explaining exactly what happened and tried to leave it on good terms. She emailed me back with a content response and no hard feelings.

She calls me later that night screaming at me leaving me a harassing voicemail saying that I was the one that caused the leak and she is going to find me and make me pay for the damages. I called them back explaining again exactly what happened and that I did not do anything to her sink I simply noticed there was a leak and shut the water off as soon as I noticed. She then proceeds to email me saying that I did this maliciously and I stole things from her house over the course of me living there and that I stole her credit card (talking about the situation that I wrote about earlier) and she was going to take legal action against me if I did not pay her for the carpet cleaning. She then emails me again saying I did this on purpose and I did it maliciously to them. That the way the copper stem was was broken they need to replace the whole faucet and that it would be added to the carpet cleaning. They would pursue legal action if I did not pay for the repairs. I do not feel at all responsible for any of these damages I did not do anything to her sink and if I wanted to be malicious I would not have shut off the water valve. I emailed her back saying that I was sorry she felt the way she did but I did nothing wrong and I wished her and her family the best. They are now pursuing legal action. What could they sue me for?

They are trying to come after me for these damages that I did not cause or do to their home? What do I do? Can they really sue me and what for?

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that you may serve a written letter to the house owner. You may explain your viewpoint on each point of dispute to the other party. If the other party does not resolve the matter, you may file a lawsuit. You may show to the court that you had no malicious intent rather you shut off the valves to prevent damage. Further, you may request the court that you should not be harassed by the other party and threatened repeatedly. The court will consider all the facts and decide the matter. On the other hand, if the other party files a lawsuit against you then the burden of proof will be on the other party to prove their claims and allegations.

AFF

[Friend In Court]

You may wish to look at the hours you worked at what you were paid in view of the Fair Labor
Standards Act. No doubt the compensation for the hours you worked is far below the federal minimum wage and may also violate your state's wage and hour act. Even though living in, your employer may have been liable to pay you overtime. One Hundred Seventy Five Dollars a week, working 10 hour or longer days is outrageous. They may have also been obligated to cover you under workmen's compensation and to report your wages to the IRS and deduct withholding.

Here is an excerpt from one of the publications covering the Fair Labor Standards Act:

"Summary

Employers who state their domestic employee's pay only in terms of a weekly salary run the risk of having a court interpret this as a standard salary for a 40-hour work week. Remember, domestic employment by definition is non-exempt employment. This means you cannot offer a salary that covers any number of work hours, but must pay overtime for hours worked above 40 in a week. By structuring the work agreement with wages paid at an hourly rate and by agreeing to a guaranteed weekly minimum, the family is protecting itself from possible wage disputes and meeting the nanny's desire for a predictable weekly wage.
Compliance is an easy 3-step process:
Agree on hourly rate (and weekly base guarantee if appropriate).
Keep record of hours worked. Notations in a Month-at-a-Glance style calendar work just fine. There are some free time-card applications on the internet for the more tech-savy nannies & families.
Pay for all hours worked at the appropriate rate."
.

Of course they can sue you. Who knows what reason they will put down on paper. If you get sued in small claims, be prepared to defend yourself. If you get sued in a higher court, you'll need an attorney.

Find a local attorney who will give you a free half-hour consultation and run this by him or her.

I hope you see that it is VERY IMPORTANT to have things in writing about jobs, job duties, salaries, nanny duties, other duties, rent, etc.

[capotek1]

how will I know if it is small claims or higher court?

Originally Posted by capotek1 how will I know if it is small claims or higher court?

The amount they are suing you for will determine if it's small claims. Anything over that amount will go to the next higher court.

Check with your local courthouse as the amounts might vary according to state.

[LegalMan]

Some of the replies are spot on and yes, you should protect yourself and be prepared. I would recommend explaining all you wrote to a qualified attorney in these matters who can can guide you and consult you on your rights, and of course defend you in court should it come to that. Feel free to contact me and I will be glad to show you how my service can help protect you and hopefully resolve the situation before it goes any further.

Good luck and God Bless.

[Friend In Court]

If you bone up on your rights, you should find you have far more grounds to sue them than the other way around. They exploited you, paid you about $2.00 an hour instead of compensating at minimum wage plus overtime, did not pay federal withholding taxes and most likely did not report your wages to the IRS ad nauseum. That is before addressing possibly some laws of your state that they violated.

Exploitation of household workers, especially live in is sadly all too common. But there are laws to protect and if you avail yourself of these you may find they owe you far more than you could imagine.

See a labor law attorney and you might just find that you have a BIG claim against them.