If You Can't Handle Time With Your Kids, Chances Are Your Nanny Needs a Break Too.

I am not ashamed to admit that I have not only read The Nanny Diaries but I have seen the mediocre film adaptation more than once. To justify it from aesthetics grounds, I cite the awesomeness that is watching Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti doing satire. But really, the heart of the story for me is about a girl doing a difficult job for mind-blowingly heinous employers.

According to an article published on June 2nd in the New York Times, there is a bill (stalled though it might be) being negotiated to guarantee and codify basic work-place rights for domestic workers. Under the terms of the bill, workers would be entitled to paid holidays, sick days and vacation days, overtime wages, and 14 days notice or termination pay. Gee, those sound like the same allowances rich people who have domestic workers get from their office jobs.

I have friends from Ivy League who are nannying and babysitting. These basic provisions will clearly make their lives better. Although the article brings up the murkier pluses and minuses the bill will have for the domestic workers who are in the country illegally, my gut tells me that everyone will benefit from stricter laws regarding domestic working conditions. Nannies of the world, unite!