Those who use a home-based daycare provider - question

Bluesmoothee · August 2009

I'm considering using a woman who runs a licensed daycare out of her home. (licensed meaning she follows all of the state regulations) I was reading her sick day policies and something stood out. It said that she is paid for her sick days. In other words, let's say she is sick for 3 days - we would still have to pay her for those 3 days even though we'd have to find alternative care for our child. Is this normal? Do you pay your daycare provider if she is sick? Of course I understand still paying her if my child got sick.

Just wondering what other daycare providers do in this situation.

DevonPow · August 2009

We don't, but our home daycare has the main teacher/owner (whose house it is) and two assistant teachers each day. If she were to be sick they would have a back-up person come in.

kevschickee2 · August 2009

I work for a family daycare system and if one of our providers are out then parents don't have to pay but if the kids are out (by the parents choice like sick or vaca) then they have to pay.

Mominator · August 2009

I am a SAHM now, but when my DD was in an in home daycare, then yes, the providor was allowed a certain number of paid sick days. Struck me as completely normal, employer/employee relationship. That was her job and I was paying her and felt that if she were sick she deserved a paid day same as I would. Of course, in 18mths she never took a sick day, but I would have paid if she had.

squishywife · August 2009

my sister-in-law goes to a licensed provider and they pay her for sick and vacation days. she has a list of state/federal holidays she is off that they pay for (veterans day, thanksgiving, etc). she is also off every other friday in the summer for which she is paid.

at the beginning of the year they get a list of all the days off she has.

jorie · August 2009

I paid my DCP when she was sick. Don't you get a certain number of paid sick days at work?

Bluesmoothee · August 2009

I do, but she didn't specify a set number of days. So theoretically she could take an unlimited number of days and I'd have to pay. So, should i ask her to write in a specific number of sick days that I'd pay for? Like 5 sick days?

MichelleWP · August 2009

It is pretty standard, however not specifying a # seems strange, I am a provider and take 5 paid vacation days and 5 paid personal/sick days per year (the difference is I guarantee 2 wks notice for vacation). Each family receives 5 unpaid days per year (days they don't have to pay when their child is not in care).

megboveri · August 2009

Yes, it's normal to have to pay every day/every week even if your child doesn't end up going because your provider is sick, your child is sick, your provider takes a vacation, you take a vacation, holidays, etc, etc.

Kapalua · August 2009

she has a set number of sick days that are paid...if she goes beyond that then she is not paid.

A-baybride · August 2009

Mominator:
I am a SAHM now, but when my DD was in an in home daycare, then yes, the providor was allowed a certain number of paid sick days. Struck me as completely normal, employer/employee relationship. That was her job and I was paying her and felt that if she were sick she deserved a paid day same as I would. Of course, in 18mths she never took a sick day, but I would have paid if she had.

But you're not her employer. If you were, you would dictate her schedule, pay half her employment taxes, worker's comp, unemployment insurance and health insurance in addition to paid days off.

She's a small business owner with several clients who pay for her services, which means that she is responsible for all of the above. I don't know what's typical for home daycares, but I can't think of any other service provider that expects to be paid when they don't provide a service. If I had a dentist appt. and the day of, they called and said the doctor was sick and the office was closed that day - that's fine, life happens and I wouldn't someone who was sick working in my mouth. But I'd be surprised (and irate) to receive a bill for work scheduled, but not performed. DH is currently self-employed as a consultant. If he was sick and didn't do any work on his current project for a day, he wouldn't dream of billing for 8 hours of work he didn't do.

Anyway, back to the original question. If that's what she has in her contract and her clients agree to it... good for her, I guess. There's no law against it, it's just not consistent with how other service providers operate. If she didn't do that, she'd probably need to increase her rates in order to make enough to take unpaid days off.

Mominator · August 2009

PMQ:
A-baybride:

Mominator:
I am a SAHM now, but when my DD was in an in home daycare, then yes, the providor was allowed a certain number of paid sick days. Struck me as completely normal, employer/employee relationship. That was her job and I was paying her and felt that if she were sick she deserved a paid day same as I would. Of course, in 18mths she never took a sick day, but I would have paid if she had.

But you're not her employer. If you were, you would dictate her schedule, pay half her employment taxes, worker's comp, unemployment insurance and health insurance in addition to paid days off.

She's a small business owner with several clients who pay for her services, which means that she is responsible for all of the above. I don't know what's typical for home daycares, but I can't think of any other service provider that expects to be paid when they don't provide a service. If I had a dentist appt. and the day of, they called and said the doctor was sick and the office was closed that day - that's fine, life happens and I wouldn't someone who was sick working in my mouth. But I'd be surprised (and irate) to receive a bill for work scheduled, but not performed. DH is currently self-employed as a consultant. If he was sick and didn't do any work on his current project for a day, he wouldn't dream of billing for 8 hours of work he didn't do.

Anyway, back to the original question. If that's what she has in her contract and her clients agree to it... good for her, I guess. There's no law against it, it's just not consistent with how other service providers operate. If she didn't do that, she'd probably need to increase her rates in order to make enough to take unpaid days off.

Thank you! I knew there was a reason why I thought it was odd that a DCP would get paid for sick days/holidays.

I have a massage therapist who comes to my house every week...if she doesn't come she doesn't get paid. Same with my cleaning lady. If Joey has an appt with the private OT or SLP that we've hired and they can't make it for whatever reason they don't get paid. I never understood what made DCP different from other self-employed people.

My BFF is a nursing professor and she has to pay her DCP throughout the summer for both of her kids! So the DCP doesn't actually work dring the summer, since these are her only two kids, but she gets paid?! I think that's robbery! But I guess not since my BFF has agreed to this arrangement.

In the case of the OP there is no way I would agree to an unspecified number of sick days.

I guess I see it differently. Yes, I was not the only person paying her, but I still felt like I was in part her employer, because in the true sense of the word, I was employing her to take care of my children. That said, I do think that it is a little ridiculous to compare this to a massage therapist or what not. This person is providing you with what, an hour of service a week whereas as home DCP is taking care of your child usually a minimum of 40 hours per week. As a parent, I felt that it was the least that I could do to pay her for a couple of sick days per year. I certainly understand that not everyone feels the same way, but we should at least compare apples to apples. Most daycare centers that I looked into when DD was an infant charged X amount of dollars per week whether DD was there or not, and a few even closed for a week at a time twice a year for cleaning and what not and I was still required to pay AND find alternate care, why should an In Home providor / small business owner not get the same? kwim? Just because they are working out of their home instead of a "center"?

goldenprincess · August 2009

Yes, we do pay her for her sick days as well as 2 weeks holidays per year

mikeandmonica · August 2009

No. We pay 2 weeks vacation for her, but any sick/personal days she has are not paid. We also pay if we aren't there.

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