Nanny Application: Fill & Download for Free

As a (non-Indian) American on Quora, but one with no particular axe to grind either for or against anyone involved, here's the way I see it:The Wikipedia article on the Khobragade incident seems to me to be relatively objective and probably accurate. Reading through it, I think I've got a pretty clear picture in my own mind as to what actually happened, regardless of the posturing, sensationalizing and spinning of the various parties and outraged people on all sides.Indeed, it brings to mind the seminal film Rashomon by the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. In both cases, each of the participants in a disputed incident tells the story in such a way as to make themselves the hero, when in reality, everyone's behavior actually left much to be desired.In this particular case, it seems pretty obvious to me that none of the actors (the diplomat, the nanny, the State Department or the Indian government) covered themselves in glory. Indeed, most of the participants were trying to cut corners, and got caught.In an alternate universe of The World According to David, this whole thing should have been resolved with a simple phone call or two, after which either (a) the nanny's salary would be raised to minimum wage, or (b) the nanny and her family would have returned to India.As David Who Sees All understands the fact pattern, here's what really happened:An Indian diplomat with a child gets posted to a mid-level consular post in New York.Based on societal customs in India, where domestic service costs are very low—and therefore domestic help for the middle class is very common—she decides to bring a nanny with her, for the same relative cost she's already paying in India.The nanny, many of whose family are already in domestic service to various diplomatic families, sees this as a good way to get herself and her family to the US.In support of the nanny's visa application, the diplomat lies about agreeing to pay her the US minimum wage, which is fine with the nanny. This may or may not be customary for other Indian expatriates temporarily resident in the US.Once they both get to New York (where it is a bit atypical for a person at the level of this diplomat to actually have a full-time nanny) the nanny finds that, unlike in India, there is simply no way to live in New York on $3.53/hr. (This may be hard for people in India to understand, as all of the nanny's costs would typically be paid for by the employer, but trust me, in New York that level of take-home pay would barely cover one lunch per day for one person.)The nanny asks the diplomat for permission to take a second job outside the house. Fearing the problem of being associated with an illegal worker (but unfortunately forgetting her own legal/employment situation) the diplomat refuses permission.The nanny, out of some combination of desperation and bad faith, decides that the right thing to do is to try to blackmail the diplomat.The diplomat, realizing that this had now gotten wayyyyy out of hand, reported the blackmail attempt to the authorities in India.India, jumping to the support of the diplomat, took this seriously, and moved rapidly to indict the nanny and extradite her from the US.Faced with deportation, the nanny decided to roll on the diplomat, and went to the US State Department with the "slave wage" charge.Not being fully aware of the blackmail issue, the State Department and Department of Justice saw this as an opportunity to send a message to the large New York-based diplomatic corps about not importing third-world domestic service practices and corruption to the US.They therefore gave the nanny and her family temporary asylum in the US, in exchange for her testimony against the diplomat.After carefully determining that this mid-level consular officer was not covered by blanket diplomatic immunity, the US Marshals Service arrested her with appropriate deference to her diplomatic status (not in the presence of her kid, no handcuffs, etc.)Standard procedure for the Marshals is to strip search (not "cavity search") everyone prior to putting them in a holding cell, so this was done to the diplomat as it would have been for anyone else.After several hours of booking and questioning, the diplomat was released on her own recognizance.The US Attorneys office announced the arrest, to make their point.The Indian government (seeing the underlying wage + perjury issue as unimportant, and the blackmail + sovereignty question as paramount) immediately rallied behind the diplomat and transferred her to the staff of its Mission to the UN, thus giving her full diplomatic immunity.A segment of the Indian population, regarding the whole incident as a gross attack on the country's honor, worked itself into a major uproar.The Indian government, partially stung by domestic criticism over both a perceived lack of support for the diplomat because of her caste/tribe, and a perceived weakness in recent years of dealing with the US, upped the ante by removing security roadblocks in front of the US Embassy in India, canceling meetings with an official US delegation, demanding wage records from all US diplomats, etc.The US State Department, realizing that they had mishandled the whole mess, began backtracking and trying to calm things down, while maintaining their original position.The story nevertheless continued to metastasize, even to the point that otherwise rational Americans started going on Quora with ludicrous statements about the NYPD conducting intrusive cavity searches on foreign diplomats in contravention of international agreements.And that is where we stand.

In the late Summer of 2005, I was in the midst of extreme chaos. It seemed my ‘then husband’ had been colluding with our live-in Nanny to basically oust me from my own home. These two were doing all sorts of criminal behavior from setting up audio surveillance, to trying to engage in vicious arguments, to out right invasion of my home office, laptop and all of my credit cards and financial files. I knew they were trying to ‘set me up’ in some way to have our home become their home. Little did I know the depths of depravity that would be forthcoming. (The marital home was in my name and I had put the down payment on it and paid the majority of our monthly bills).I had to eliminate this incendiary, collusive, creature “Nanny” and partner in crime, from my household. I also knew that I had to file for divorce from my sociopathic, narcissistic, pathological liar of a husband. What I tried to do was keep away all this insanity from my three, young children hoping all that was happening around their sweet, little world would not be anything they would/should/could understand. You see, I had a 7 yr son, a 5 yr old daughter and a 3 yr old daughter at that time. They were babies to me. No one would ‘rock their world’, on my shift.One day, I had taken the afternoon off of work to meet with a new potential Nanny. I worked full time as the ‘Bread Winner’ as my ‘then husband’ worked 3 kinds of jobs but none full time and none seemingly paying well. I had planned to fire the Adulteress Nanny and divorce my abusive husband but that still required me to work full time. I knew I still needed help to continue to work as I was then to be a ‘single parent’. The Agency I used had me meet this new applicant Nanny at the train station near our home so I could interview her. I knew that I would need to hire her immediately and fire my current “Nanny”. I picked up my son from Elementary School and told him that we were going to the train station to meet a new Nanny as “Our Nanny would be leaving soon”. I was worried my son would be upset as she had been with us about 2 years by then so I said, “Honey, are you ok? I know this must be a surprise.” I waited thinking he might cry or be angry but instead my little boy said the thing that haunts me to this day. He said, “It’s about time Mommy.” I was stunned. I looked over my shoulder at him as we were traveling in my Honda Odessey mini van to go to the station. There he was strapped into his little car seat, looking like a serious young man, at age 7. I said, “Honey, why would you say that?” By then I had pulled the car over, not realizing that tears had started to pool in my eyes and my throat grew tight. He said, “Mommy, Daddies aren’t supposed to kiss Nannies. Daddy is only supposed to kiss Mommy but he never does that anymore.” I was quietly sobbing as I had no idea until that day, how much he had seen and knew. Those expressions hit me of “out of the mouth of babes” and “little children see more than you know”. I felt my heart actually feel like it had been punched. He unbuckled himself out of his car seat and walked over to me and put his little arms around me and said, “Don’t worry Mommy, things will get better and I will always love you.” I hugged him for the longest time in silence. I just didn’t know what to say.It took seven and a half more years to finalize my acrimonious divorce and put that nightmare in my past. And you know what? My son was right, it did eventually get better.My handsome, mature son is now an independent, 19 year old college student who works! Thank you for being my wise, mature, loyal, acutely aware, young man who always knows what’s right and wrong. I will always love you too!

U.S. perspectiveHere is your major legal problem: It appears that you have a household employee (a nanny) whom you have employed without complying with applicable laws (obtaining her social security number, withholding taxes and other deductions, etc.).As a result, she probably can go to the labor commission in your state and cause you a shitload of trouble.So, there probably are two different answers to this question:Legal answer - It appears that you have no obligation to pay the nanny any severance beyond the amount already paid.Practical answer - If she is knowledgeable, she may be able to strongarm you into paying more by threatening to bring your unlawful activities to the attention of the state.You need to retain an experienced employment lawyer in your state ASAP. Don’t rely on advice from Quora or any other online resource. There is too much at stake here.And in the future, you need to hire nannies in accordance with applicable laws.