How easy is it to be sued by a nanny here?

[BankNote]

One needs to up one;s people skills.

Not everyone is after yr ass as some other people are insinuating above.

Just be fair, study people and dont hire the problematic ones.

Only twice I have had a problem in last 10 years after having many different workers and employee types. 1. A Argentine personal trainer who ran away with my money - (after training me almost for 2 years) which I had paid in advance. I decided to fire him but he refused to return my money ( almost 400 usd in advance). lesson learnt - never pay in advance. dont give loans. 2. A non - Argentine maid who was continually stealing things from my apartment, while she was super nice/polite to me and worked EXTREMELY efficiently and like a super fast robot. Lesson learnt - honesty trumps any efficient maid. //

Other than that I am extremely satisfied with local workers.

 

[mmoon]

I’m sorry to say that many people I know here (and most of them are Argentine) have been sued by nannies and maids. It’s just too easy to do and the employer almost always loses. I think one of the keys is to not be overly friendly or generous. It can make you appear like a rich foreigner AKA sucker. Keep the relationship professional, and make sure the hours, expectations, vacation, sick days and everything else is clear and ideally, written. Better to pay en blanco, regardless of what your employee wants. It’s not really that hard to do, and it may save you a lot of nervousness, headache and money later. Personally, I never hired full time help in Argentina. I didn’t have a ton of maid or nanny help in the States, so figured I could also live without it in BA even if it was “cheap.”

 

[nikad]

Put her en blanco right away if you want to keep her. There are high chances of being sued. When in Rome...

 

[on the brink]

Unfortunately a lot of the time Argentines mistake generosity and kindness fur weakness .

Not just Argentines - have had that experience in the US, Canada, France, and Uruguay. Many people a have a hard time believing in kindness and generosity. Which is sad comment on us as a species.

 

[nicoenarg]

You can get sued even if you do everything en blanco...here, in the US, in Europe, in Antarctica. Argentina isn't some special place where people are more likely to sue you. You do have the problem that capital federal has more lawyers than cockroaches but that's a different discussion.

You do everything in blanco and the lady wanting to sue you goes to the police and says you abused her, then wtf are you going to do?

We've hired countless folks here in Argentina and never had to worry about being sued because we always hire via recommendations from family, not just someone off the street. If the lady did not come recommended, ask your family members here and hire someone they know or have heard good things about.

 

[Silvie]

Possibilities of getting sued are very high even if they don’t have an attorney in the family . Try to keep her very happy with the arrangements . If they don’t want to be ”en blanco”, chances are they are already getting some kind of government subsidy and they don’t want to lose it .

 

[Northener]

You can get sued even if you do everything en blanco...here, in the US, in Europe, in Antarctica. Argentina isn't some special place where people are more likely to sue you. You do have the problem that capital federal has more lawyers than cockroaches but that's a different discussion.

You do everything in blanco and the lady wanting to sue you goes to the police and says you abused her, then wtf are you going to do?
.

That may be true but she can't sue you for not paying her en blanco so one less thing to worry about.

 

[jeff1234]

We had a scare awhile back. Our cleaning lady suddenly had a sore wrist 'from working at our house'. She's en blanco. If she could convince the insurance doctor to put her on sick leave we might have to continue to pay her salary for a long time while she 'recuperated'.

 

[PoorSoul]

How long does it really take to clean your house? I spend maybe 15 minutes a week cleaning. Seems like the money and fear of being sued is not worth saving 15 minutes

 

[elhombresinnombre]

How long does it really take to clean your house? I spend maybe 15 minutes a week cleaning. Seems like the money and fear of being sued is not worth saving 15 minutes

There's a culture amongst the Buenos Aires middle classes - that very much mirrors the culture in England in the nineteenth and early to mid twentieth century, and probably mirrors other cultures elsewhere - that if you are living comfortably, you can share some of your good fortune by finding work for others to do. Until comparatively recently even quite modest family houses and apartments in Buenos Aires had quarters for the live-in help. Nowadays it's not so much that you can't do it yourself - though with a new-born like Fiscal some help in the house must be like a godsend - but that you can help someone else along.