Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Reasonable Number of Sick Days for Daycare Employees
BumbleBee 02:29 PM 05-01-2019
What is a reasonable number of sick days, personal days, etc. For a daycare employee to take? When daycare is open. Not holidays, vacation weeks, or when daycare is otherwise closed.

Paid or unpaid? Is it justifiable to set a limit? Is there a standard number for daycare employees to get?

I mean if an employee is puking obviously they shouldn't be here, but when is it crossing over into excessive?
Reply
rosieteddy 06:09 AM 05-02-2019
I always felt 5 personal /sick days paid was fair.Added to that was 3 Bereavement days for an immediate family members passing, also paid.
Reply
Blackcat31 06:13 AM 05-02-2019
Originally Posted by BumbleBee:
What is a reasonable number of sick days, personal days, etc. For a daycare employee to take? When daycare is open. Not holidays, vacation weeks, or when daycare is otherwise closed.

Paid or unpaid? Is it justifiable to set a limit? Is there a standard number for daycare employees to get?

I mean if an employee is puking obviously they shouldn't be here, but when is it crossing over into excessive?
This is hard because some people are simply sick more often than others.

I am rarely sick. In 20+ years of child care, I've never taken a sick day. I've had days where I felt a bit less than normal (head cold/sutffiness etc) but rarely anything I'd exclude a child for so I've always just sucked it up and worked. I would honestly expect the same from an employee.

However, on the flip side I know people that rarely make it a full week without needing to call into work or take the day off.

Upon hiring I'd probably ask how often they are sick enough to call off work and then give them the a set number of days to use for illness that "matched" their sick history. kwim?

For "normal" people (I use that term loosely...lol!) I would think that 5 sick days per year would be sufficient but this also goes back to a persons' immune system. If they've never worked around kids before they're going to have an "adjustment" period where they catch everything....like new kids when they start care do... but if they've worked around kids before they've probably got a fairly healthy immune system and wouldn't be a sick as often.


Either way, I guess I wouldn't give paid sick days. I just don't think it's really feasible for a small business to provide that. I know I wouldn't expect paid time off from a small privately owned company.

I would require a note from the doctor stating what the employee had if they absolutely needed to call off work and put me in a bind (due to ratios etc) and I don't think I'd allow it much more than once or twice in a 6 month period.







Rereading all that, I feel I would be a strict employer in that regard but then again if my business counted on reliable staff, I'd absolutely expect reliable staff.
Reply
Ariana 10:35 AM 05-02-2019
I feel like 10 days would be maximum and is more than sufficient. I have 5 sick days per year and rarely take them all and I am prone to sickness...some years better than others obviously.

I have a couple of parents who definitely take advantage of sick days. One mom told me her work was very liberal with sick days (government tax payer funded job of course ) and has already taken 12 days off since she started in March. To me that is excessive because no one is that sick.
Reply
BumbleBee 10:47 AM 05-02-2019
Thank you for your replies. I'm struggling with an employee being sick quite often. Today is the 5.5th sick day this year in addition to 1.5 personal days since January 2nd.

I feel like it's a lot in 5 months and she's not a new employee.

I'm frustrated, but I haven't found a suitable replacement yet. I will continue looking.
Reply
Cat Herder 10:55 AM 05-02-2019
I have never had more than 3 paid sick days per year at any daycare job I have ever had. Maternity included. Anything after that had to be pre-approved, covered and unpaid. Sometimes co-workers could shift swap or donate time to each other, though.

Standard bereavement was also 3 days and had to be immediate family. We were always required to produce the obituary upon return, it was so tacky.

Most of my center jobs had some sort of employee health program that could be hit up for mental health time, retraining and counseling, though. I know that the program has helped a lot of folks through bad divorces and kept them employed. Oddly, all of those hospital-based centers (for employees) locally seem to have closed, now. I guess those grants must have run out?
Reply
ColorfulSunburst 11:15 AM 05-02-2019
my assistants have two weeks of paid vacation, 10 paid holidays. I do not offer any paid sick days by contract but I, in fact, pay if they sick. It happens 1-2-3 days during a year.
Reply
springv 11:34 AM 05-02-2019
@cat hoarder: I totally agree with you having to provide an obituary if someone In your immediate family has died. I agree it's tacky and I also feel that it's none of anyone's business who it was. I have a pet peeve about nosy people. I have an administrator at our daycare that constantly wants to know why I'm taking off and how long I will be gone and even asks if I'm sick. I'm a VOLUNTEER for Pete's sake
Reply
Tags:blackcat, catherder, employee - sick days, employee issues, sick days
Reply Up