Can an Employer Ask for a Doctor’s Note in Washington?

In Washington, an employer can ask for a doctor’s note, but only within limits set by state and federal law. For ordinary sick days, your employer generally cannot require medical verification unless you have missed more than three consecutive scheduled workdays. Longer absences covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act or Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program allow a formal medical certification. Separate rules apply when you ask for a disability accommodation or return to work after a serious medical event. In every case, the note confirms a legitimate absence — it does not entitle your employer to your diagnosis.

The Three-Day Rule for Sick Leave

Washington’s Paid Sick Leave law sets a clear threshold. Your employer can require a doctor’s note only after you have been absent for more than three consecutive scheduled workdays.¹ Call in sick Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and your employer has no right to demand documentation for those days on their own. Once the absence stretches past that third day, verification becomes possible.

Even then, the employer cannot invent the requirement in the moment. The company must have a written verification policy, and that policy must be shared with employees before anyone is asked to produce a note.² If no policy exists, or you were never notified of it, your employer has no foundation to enforce a note request.

What the Note Can and Cannot Say

For a routine sick leave absence, the verification is minimal. A note confirming that a healthcare provider saw you and that your absence was medically justified for a specific period is enough. Your employer is not entitled to your diagnosis, your symptoms, or the details of your treatment. The purpose is narrow: confirming the leave was used for an authorized reason.

When Getting the Note Is a Burden

Washington law adds a safety valve. The verification requirement cannot create an unreasonable burden or expense for you.¹ If getting a doctor’s note would cost money you cannot afford or require a visit you cannot practically make, you can push back. You can provide an oral or written explanation stating that your sick leave was for an authorized purpose and explaining why the verification requirement is unreasonably burdensome.

Once you raise that concern, your employer has ten calendar days to make a reasonable effort to find an alternative. That might mean accepting your written explanation or helping cover the cost of getting a note.² Ignoring your objection and insisting on the original requirement is not a lawful option.

Medical Certification for Longer Absences

When a health condition keeps you out for an extended period, the paperwork becomes more formal. Two programs often apply at once: the federal FMLA, which provides unpaid, job-protected leave, and Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave, which provides partial wage replacement and, starting in 2026, its own job protection at companies with 25 or more workers.³

FMLA covers employees who have worked for their employer at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours during that period, and work at a site with 50 or more employees within 75 miles.⁴ If you qualify, you are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for a serious health condition affecting you or a close family member.⁵ Your employer can require a medical certification. The standardized FMLA form asks your provider to document when the condition began, how long it is expected to last, and whether you can perform your essential job functions. The form specifically bars providers from including genetic test results or information about diseases in your family.⁶

Washington PFML has different rules. You need 820 hours during the qualifying period, which is roughly the 12 to 15 months before your claim. You do not have to still be employed to qualify, and your employer’s size affects only job protection, not benefits.⁷ PFML uses its own certification form, and healthcare providers must complete and return it within seven calendar days of receiving it.⁸

A “serious health condition” under both programs generally means an illness, injury, or condition involving inpatient care or continuing treatment by a healthcare provider. Continuing treatment covers conditions causing more than three consecutive days of incapacity with follow-up care, chronic conditions requiring periodic visits, pregnancy, and long-term conditions where treatment may not be effective.⁹

If your employer doubts the validity of an FMLA certification, it can require a second opinion at its own expense from a provider it selects but does not regularly employ. A conflicting result can lead to a third opinion, also employer-paid, with the provider chosen jointly and the result binding.¹⁰

Notes for Accommodations and Return-to-Work Exams

Documentation rules shift again when you request a disability accommodation. If you ask for something like a standing desk, a modified schedule, or noise-canceling headphones, your employer can ask for medical documentation only if the disability or the need for the accommodation is not obvious. Someone using a wheelchair does not have to prove a mobility impairment. But if the connection between the condition and the request is not visible, the employer can reasonably ask for a note explaining it.¹¹

The request is bounded to two questions: does a covered disability exist, and does it require the specific accommodation you asked for. Anything beyond that — your full medical history, unrelated conditions, records the employer is curious about — is off limits.¹¹

Returning from medical leave is another situation where a note may come into play. An employer can require a fitness-for-duty exam only when it has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that your condition impairs your ability to perform essential functions or poses a direct safety threat. The exam must stay within the scope of the condition that prompted the leave.¹² Leave for knee surgery lets the employer ask whether you can stand for your shift. It does not authorize a broad physical screening for unrelated conditions.

What Your Employer Cannot Ask For

The core restriction runs through every scenario. Your employer is not entitled to your specific diagnosis. A note confirming that you needed time off is not the same as a report explaining what is wrong with you. The information must be job-related and limited to what the employer actually needs to manage the absence or accommodation.

Genetic information is separately off limits. The federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prohibits employers from requesting, requiring, or purchasing genetic test results, family medical history, or information about genetic services you or a family member received.¹³ One narrow exception: FMLA leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition may include that person’s medical information, but only what is needed to establish the qualifying condition.

HIPAA closes another gap. Your healthcare provider cannot share your protected health information with your employer without your written authorization unless another law requires the disclosure.¹⁴ HIPAA does not stop your employer from asking questions. It stops your doctor from answering them without your consent. If you sign an authorization, the form must describe the information disclosed, name who can receive it, state the purpose, include an expiration date, and explain your right to revoke it in writing.¹⁵ A vague or open-ended authorization is not valid, and you can limit what gets shared before signing.

How Medical Information Must Be Stored

Once your employer lawfully receives medical information — a sick leave note, an FMLA certification, an accommodation document — the ADA requires that it be kept on separate forms and in separate medical files, apart from your regular personnel records.¹⁶ Access is limited to three groups:

Supervisors and managers, who may be told about necessary work restrictions or accommodations but not your underlying condition.
First aid and safety personnel, who may be informed if your condition could require emergency treatment.
Government officials investigating ADA compliance.

Coworkers, other departments, and executives curious about your absence have no right to your medical records. Disclosing them beyond those exceptions can be an ADA violation in itself.¹²

Retaliation Is Not Allowed

Washington law prohibits punishing you for using paid sick leave. Your employer cannot fire, suspend, demote, or deny you a promotion for taking sick time for an authorized purpose. Cutting your pay, reducing your scheduled hours, or altering your schedule in retaliation is equally illegal.¹⁷

One rule catches many employers off guard. No attendance policy can count protected sick leave as an “occurrence” or “point” that leads to discipline.¹ The no-fault attendance systems common in warehouses, call centers, and retail cannot lawfully apply to protected sick leave. Employers also cannot threaten immigration-related action against employees or their families for exercising sick leave rights.¹⁷

For paid family and medical leave, Washington employers with 25 or more employees must restore you to the same or an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions when you return.³

Where to File a Complaint

If your employer oversteps on documentation, retaliates against you, or mishandles your medical records, the agency you turn to depends on the claim.

The Washington Department of Labor and Industries handles paid sick leave violations. You can file a Worker Rights Complaint online, by mail, or at a local L&I office. The general filing deadline is three years from the violation, but retaliation claims must be filed within 180 days.¹⁸
The Washington State Human Rights Commission handles disability discrimination claims under the Washington Law Against Discrimination, including accommodation disputes. Employment complaints must be filed within six months of the most recent harm.¹⁹
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handles federal ADA violations, including improper medical inquiries and confidentiality breaches.

That 180-day retaliation window at L&I is the deadline most likely to trip people up. If your employer punishes you for using sick leave, waiting even a few months can cost you the right to file.

1
Washington State Legislature. RCW 49.46.210 Paid Sick Leave – Authorized Purposes – Limitations
2
Cornell Law School. Wash. Admin. Code 296-128-660 – Verification for Absences Exceeding Three Days
3
Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Job Protection Requirements for Employers
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #28 The Family and Medical Leave Act
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 2612 – Leave Requirement
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Information for Health Care Providers to Complete a Certification under the FMLA
7
Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Find Out How Paid Leave Works
8
Washington State’s Paid Family and Medical Leave. Health Care Providers
9
Washington State Legislature. RCW 50A.05.010 Definitions
10
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.307 – Authentication and Clarification of Medical Certification; Second and Third Opinions
11
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the ADA
12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Disability-Related Inquiries and Medical Examinations of Employees under the ADA
13
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Genetic Information Discrimination
14
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Employers and Health Information in the Workplace
15
eCFR. 45 CFR 164.508 – Uses and Disclosures for Which an Authorization Is Required
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 12112 – Discrimination
17
Washington Department of Labor and Industries. Enforcement of Paid Sick Leave Laws
18
Washington Department of Labor and Industries. Worker Rights Complaints
19
WA Human Rights Commission. The WA Human Rights Commission Implements a New Complaint Filing Process