Illegal Immigrants Covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Recent Federal court decisions confirm that illegal immigrants, or undocumented workers, are entitled to both protection and recourse under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA, among other things, sets the minimum standards for pay and overtime treatment of domestic workers. Domestic workers include nannies, housekeepers, maids, personal assistants, home health aides, companions and others.

Under the FLSA, according to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey, an "employee" may be defined to include not just U.S. citizens or those legally employed, but also "any individual employed by an employer" - even undocumented immigrants. Most household workers who do not reside with the employer are entitled to an overtime differential (time and one half) for hours worked in a week over 40. Unfortunately, many household employers either fail to enter into a work agreement with their household employee OR enter into agreements that are ambiguous as to wages and hours agreed. Absent any language to the contrary, a weekly salary will be interpreted in the courts as applying to a 40 hour work week. Nannies especially often work more than 40 hours in a week.

HomeWork Solutions has developed a calculator tool available free at its website that will translate a weekly salary into the appropriate hourly rate, given the residential status of the employee and the work state, and will provide suggested contract language to help employers craft FLSA compliant work agreements.

Link to Calculators

Announcing Two New Calculator Tools for Household Workers

HomeWork Solutions proudly introduces two new calculator tools for household workers available at the 4nannytaxes.com website.

The new Hourly Pay Rate Calculator prompts you to input a weekly salary and the number of hours worked. The calculator will then compute the appropriate HOURLY wage to facilitate a FLSA-compliant work agreement and provide overtime pay rate for hours worked in a week outside the contracted hours. The tool provides suggested contract language to avoid future pay rate disputes.

The new Minimum Wage Compliance Calculator will calculate the minimum FLSA compliant wage that can be paid to a domestic service worker for the number of weekly hours worked given the residential status of the worker - either live in or live out - and the state where the work is performed. This includes nannies, housekeepers, maids, and home health aides.

HomeWork Solutions provides payroll and payroll tax preparation services for household employers nationwide. HomeWork Solutions is the leader in "Nanny Tax" compliance services, referred by financial advisors and nanny referral agencies nationwide.

Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights

Nassau County NY enacted a new law that requires requires employment and referral agencies that place nannies, housekeepers and other domestics in private homes to give them a written "bill of rights." This document is to articulate the agreed pay, hours and other basic conditions of the jobs- in English, Spanish and Creole. The agencies must also provide their clients, the employers, a statement of their obligations.

This legislation will go into effect in six months.

Reputable agencies for many years have strongly encouraged written work agreements between the household workers and the employers. HomeWork Solutions has sample documents available at it's website, 4nannytaxes.com.

Summer Nanny? "Nanny Tax" Tips...

Many families engage high school and college students to provide summer nanny services when their children are on summer holiday.

What many families don't realize, however, is that this employment will trigger a "nanny tax" obligation for many of them.

The 2006 wage threshold for the Nanny Taxes is $1500 in wages paid to any one individual. Many families will pay this in just a month of care. Additionally, in most jurisdictions if the family pays $1000 or more in a calendar quarter (Apr- June or July - September) an additional obligation for unemployment taxes is incurred.

Some situations are exempt from these Nanny Taxes - primarily caregivers who are younger than 18 and whose primary occupation is that of a student. Most college aged caregivers, however, are subject to the Nanny Taxes.

More information is available online in the HomeWork Solutions FAQ.