What is the impact on the wages of your home caregiver if she is on sick leave?

Whoops! You have just received a call from your chid's caregiver who is in bed with a 40 degree fever and she doesn't think she will be able to work for another 5 days. This is one of the possible scenarios that can happen with your childcare professional, after all she is only human!.

Action-reaction! You have to find a backup solution for the whole week ... For that, it's easy: topnanny! It's time to browse babysitting ads in your area.  

Do I have to pay if the caregiver is sick?

There is no straightforward answer; it depends on the agreement you have in place with your childcare provider. Some childcare professional will stipulate a number of paid sicks days that they are allowed per year (5 seems like the average).

Other caregivers do not demand to be paid for days they are unable to work seeing as you will likely have to pay another childcare professional to watch your little one while she is out. 

What if she goes over the set number of sick days?

It's possible, say in the case where your childcare providers comes down with pneumonia or heaven forbid mono, that she will be out of commission for longer than the maximum number of sick days allotted in her contract.

This is completely understandable, after all, it is out of her control! However, this is not your fault either and normally you shouldn't be expected for the extra sick days she needs to recover.