Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

About three weeks ago I took a new job as a live in nanny and spent one very tough week there. What made it difficult were certain attitudes, behaviors and actions of the other nanny working with me. I felt intense hostility from her and felt prepared on Monday to return to work and risk getting fired by being honest with her and my employer in bringing up the difficulties by a subtler name and trying to bring to at least my employer's attention that her other nanny(who had been with them for two years) was behaving in a way she might not have predicted and that maybe she needed to find a better match for the position. I was already upset because of how blatantly aggressive, manipulative and mean this nanny was to me when are employer was not around. I received a call the next day being accused of stealing clothing from the house. I would never and never did take ANYTHING from these people. If things were indeed missing I know it was this other nanny- who probably did it because she lacked the maturity and ethic to simply address a conflict and instead decided to steal something so i would get fired. I thought maybe my employer paid closer attention to the other nanny (who i assume is still with them) and realized that she was capable of getting me fired purposely and unable to confront issues like an adult. The reason I thought this is because my former employer is an attorney and was scathing mad saying she would call the police. Two detectives from their county came to my home(two counties away) while I was in Boston last week. I just got home this morning from a red eye flight and left the detective(he gave my dad his card) a message to call me and that I was very upset about this- because i am furious, actually! Could I get in real legal trouble for this? An accusation? I really did not take anything from the house except for a quarter of the belongings i moved in with( I was going home for the weekend)- so there is no evidence obviously. What should I do? Could the detectives arrest me or could the family make a civillians arrest if I go and meet the detectives in their county? What are my rights and how should I proceed? Please help- this is really terrifying.


Asked on 11/07/09, 5:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Melvin C. Belli The Belli Law Firm

Sounds like a bad situation that you should get away from. As your question involves alleged criminal conduct you should re-post your question in the criminal law section to get advice from lawyers who regularly deal with these things. Short answer from a general practitioner�s view is yes they can arrest you if your employer filed a complaint against you. They can get you where you live or when you show up to talk to them. You should consult a criminal lawyer before you do anything but do it quickly. If you cannot afford a lawyer you can get the public defender once you are arrested and charged.

Oh by the way I would quit that job, lawyers are horrible to work for. If you do not go back send your employer a letter demanding your belongings and demand your final pay check. Your employer cannot hold your final pay check even if they think you stole from them If they do you can file a claim with the Labor Commissioner and they will help you get your final pay check and possibly some penalties for the delay.

Hope that helps and good luck.

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Answered on 11/12/09, 6:06 pm


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