Cultural Care, Inc., a prominent au pair agency, is currently facing a proposed class action lawsuit brought forward by a Massachusetts woman. The lawsuit casts a spotlight on Cultural Care Program Fees, alleging that the company engages in a practice of double-billing travel expenses to both host families and au pairs participating in its program.
The core of Cultural Care’s operation involves connecting American host families with young adults from overseas who come to the U.S. on legal visas to provide childcare. These au pairs, as described by Cultural Care, are offered a unique opportunity to live with an American family for up to two years, receiving room and board in exchange for their childcare services.
Host families who participate in the Cultural Care program agree to a set of responsibilities. These include providing suitable living accommodations, stipends for the au pairs, time off, transportation, and enrollment assistance for post-secondary education. Critically, the lawsuit highlights that the host family agreement includes a requirement to cover specific costs. These costs encompass “domestic transportation” for the au pair from Cultural Care’s New York training facility to the host family’s home, in addition to a general “program fee.”
Cultural Care’s website provides descriptions of this cultural care program fee, stating that it is intended to cover “round-trip international airfare” for the au pair, alongside other program-related expenditures. Further clarification on their FAQ page reiterates that international airfare is included within the program fee paid by host families. The lawsuit argues that these descriptions reasonably lead host families to believe they are paying for the au pair’s international flight to the United States.
However, the legal document reveals a parallel agreement between Cultural Care and the au pairs themselves. This separate agreement also mandates that au pairs pay their own “program fee.” Crucially, this au pair program fee is also purported to cover “round-trip airfare” and domestic travel expenses, according to the lawsuit’s claims.
This dual fee structure is the crux of the lawsuit’s allegations. It argues that Cultural Care’s agreements with host families effectively require them to pay for travel costs that are supposedly already covered by the fees paid by the au pairs. The lawsuit contends that Cultural Care is collecting funds for au pairs’ travel costs from two distinct sources without proper disclosure to the host families.
The complaint explicitly states, “Without informing Plaintiff or the Class members, Defendant collected the money for Plaintiff’s and Class members’ au pairs’ Travel Costs twice, from two separate sources. Defendant’s improper and undisclosed double billing means the money Plaintiff and Class members paid Defendant for the Travel Costs was redundant and duplicative.”
The proposed class action seeks to represent all host families who contracted with Cultural Care, participated in their au pair program, and paid a cultural care program fee that included round-trip international airfare, domestic transportation, or both. This legal action aims to address the alleged double-billing practices related to cultural care program fees and seek compensation for affected host families.
