Au Pair Class Wins Certification in Wage Suppression Class Action

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A federal judge has largely granted Class certification to a group of au pairs who claim their sponsoring agencies conspired to suppress their wages.

U.S. District Judge Christine M. Arguello certified two main Classes and 16 subclasses, allowing more than 91,000 au pairs to bring claims against a list of agencies that provide sponsorship and placement for international au pairs.

Plaintiffs allege the agencies have been defrauding au pairs about their wages and illegally colluding to keep their wages low.

The two primary Classes will unite au pairs claiming violations of antitrust law and the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. The RICO class will be limited to au pairs sponsored by four specific defendants.

The judge rejected the defendant agencies’ argument that individualized issues would predominate over those common to the Class, as each au pair’s working experience was unique. Despite their varied experiences, the judge found the core of each claim was essentially the same for every proposed Class Member.

Judge Arguello declined to certify a nationwide Class that would have asserted state law claims against certain defendants. The claims that would have been asserted by the proposed nationwide Class would have been based on the laws of states other than the 10 states in which the named plaintiffs trained or worked.

The plaintiffs do not have standing to bring claims under the laws of other states, the judge reasoned, and therefore their own claims are not typical of those of the proposed Class.

The named plaintiffs in this wage and hour class action lawsuit are eight au pairs working in the U.S. under the J-1 visa program. The program is promoted as a “cultural exchange” program by which young persons visiting the U.S. stay with a host family while they attend school or provide child care services.

Defendants in the action are agencies authorized under the J-1 visa program to recruit au pairs from overseas, sponsor them for a visa, and place them with U.S. host families.

Plaintiffs claim the defendant agencies conspired among themselves to falsely represent that au pair wages were set at $195.75 per week. These representations were allegedly part of a scheme to suppress au pair wages at an artificially low level.

As certified by the court, the Antitrust Class will cover all persons sponsored by any defendant to work as an au pair in the U.S. under a J-1 visa. The RICO class will cover persons sponsored by Au Pair in America (also known as American Institute for Foreign Study),

Judge Arguello also certified 16 subclasses to address various claims against specific defendants from subsets of Class Members who worked or trained in specific U.S. states.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Nina DiSalvo, Alexander Hood and David Seligman of Towards Justice, and by Randall Jackson, Joshua J. Libling, Byron Pacheco, Sean P. Rodriguez, Matthew L. Schwartz, Peter Skinner, Dawn L. Smalls and Juan P. Valdivieso of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.

The Au Pair Wage Supression Class Action Lawsuit is Beltran, et al. v. Interexchange Inc., et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-03074-CMA-KMT, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

UPDATE: On Jan. 9, 2019, a $65.5 million settlement was reached to resolve claims that sponsorship agencies for au pair workers conspired together to suppress wages.

UPDATE 2: February 2019, the au pair wage suppression class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.