Tamara Mose Brown is the author of "Raising Brooklyn: Nannies, Childcare and Caribbeans Creating Community" New York University. (Books and Publications: Book). BBN thought her book cover was appropriate for this report.

According to allegations first posted on a neighborhood blog covering Park Slope and subsequently reported by the New York Times, members of The Park Slope Food Coop (PFSC) are using nannies to cover their required work shifts. The nannies referred to in this report are predominately Black and Brown women employed in households located in the affluent neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. If this allegation is true, it is not only a violation of the Coop rules but demands greater attention from the New York State Department of Labor and other state regulatory-oversight agencies.

The Park Slope Food Coop (PSFC) is described on its website as a membership based organization with more than 12,000 members. Only adult members of a household are permitted to join the Coop. Adult members are defined as those who reside in the home. According to a 2010 survey conducted by Park Slope Parents, a support group of more than 3,000 local families in Brooklyn, 98 percent of all nannies live out of the family home.

A Coop member who spoke to BBN on condition of anonymity said, "It would be hard to tell if nannies are being used to cover shifts because the coop membership is so ethnically diverse." In plainer terms she said, "But if members are using nannies to cover their shifts, then that is fucked up. When I go to sign in for my shift, I have to sign my name and my membership number. So it means there is fraud."

The New York Times article quoted one nanny as saying that the couple she worked for "are members, but they never go, because I go." She spoke on condition of anonymity, because she was concerned that she or her employers would get in trouble.

In August 2010, then Governor David Paterson signed the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, the country's first legislation protecting the rights of domestic workers, which includes nannies, housekeepers and those who care for the elderly. Like any other employer, the Coop and its members who hire domestic workers are subject to state labor laws. Any practice or mistreatment of domestic workers that effectively forces them to engage in fraudulent activity for fear of losing their job or getting their employer "in trouble" is exploitative.

As for the PSFC and its own rules, "There are checks and balances in the coop system and something has broken down or someone is complicit in this," said the Coop member BBN spoke with. "We are talking about a commitment to work 2.75 hours every four weeks (13 turns per year) and you can swap (shifts with another member) if you can't make your shift and you can pick your shift. I am a busy person too. To use a nanny to cover a shift is a violation of the coop honor system."

Is this practice of using domestic workers to cover out-of-home work exploitation of a vulnerable, undervalued group of domestic workers? That is something BBN believes New York State regulatory and oversight agencies should investigate.

BBN left a message for Ann Herpel, General Coordinator and spokesperson for the Park Slope Food Coop.