Official Explanation

We are asked to explain why the on-site day care did not reduce the number of of employees calling in sick to care for a sick child. The negative ("EXCEPT") wording of the question indicates that four of the answer choices might help to explain the situation whereas the fifth one will not.

(A) CORRECT. If a nanny is available to stay home with a sick child, then a parent does not need to call in sick. This group of parents is not the target of the free day-care plan, so this answer choice is irrelevant to the situation.

(B) If parents don't want to use the day-care facility when a child is sick, then someone will still have to stay home with that child. Therefore the day-care policy does not alleviate the problem it was designed to fix.

(C) Parents might prefer not to leave their sick children in a place that is noisy, hot, and uncomfortable. If parents do not use the day-care center, it cannot alleviate the problem it was created to fix.

(D) If month 6 fell at the height of flu season, there may have been many more sick children in month 6 than there were in the month before the day-care center opened. This increase in the number of sick children could account for the increase in the number of parents who chose to call in sick for their children.

(E) The number of sick children of employees might have been greater in month 6 due to the increased number of employees. An increase in the number of sick children could account for an increase in the absolute number of parents who chose to stay home with a sick child.

Answer: A