All Things Workplace

How-to: Call In Sick

Sep 10, 2026 | How-tos, HR Basics

Education only. This is not medical advice or legal advice. Sick pay, points-based attendance rules, and when a doctor’s note is required come from your employer and local law. If the absence may be protected leave or a longer medical need, use HR’s leave process instead of a one-line sick text. See leave, PTO, and FMLA basics for the high-level difference. Planned vacation is a different how-to from a same-day illness.

The problem. You woke up unable to work, and you are drafting a paragraph of symptoms to sound believable. That usually shares more medical detail than anyone needs and still leaves your team guessing who has the meeting.

Direct answer. Tell the person your policy names (usually your manager, sometimes a scheduler or attendance line) as early as you can. Say you are out sick today, whether you expect to be out tomorrow, and what must be covered. Skip the diagnosis. Offer a handoff, not a performance of suffering.

Time box: 5–10 minutes. Send it before your team is already in the meeting without you.

When to use / when not

Use when:

  • You are too ill, injured, or contagious to work today or for a short stretch you can already see
  • Company norms say to notify a manager or a specific channel the morning of
  • You can name one or two time-sensitive items someone else must catch

Do not use when:

  • You are actually taking planned PTO and should use the PTO request path
  • You need many days, intermittent leave, or an accommodation. Ask HR which process applies instead of stacking unexplained sick days
  • You are asking a coworker to lie about where you are
  • You are well and using “sick” as cover. That is how attendance trust breaks

Steps

  1. Check the channel. Some teams want a call, some a text, some an HRIS code. Use the required one first, then a short note to your manager if the system does not notify them.
  2. Send it early. “As soon as you know” beats a message at noon that you missed standup.
  3. State today, and only predict tomorrow if you actually know. “I will update you by [time] if I am also out tomorrow” is better than a fake recovery timeline.
  4. Name coverage for anything that breaks today: the customer call, the deploy, the shift. If nothing breaks, say that in one line.
  5. Set your status (chat and calendar) so people do not assign you live work.
  6. Do not work “a little” unless your manager asked for a truly urgent ten-minute handoff and you can do it. Half-working while sick trains people to expect it.
  7. On return, close the loop in one note: you are back, you picked up [items], and anything still open.

Script (what to say / send)

Manager message:

I am out sick today, [date], and will not be online. I expect to update you by [time tomorrow morning] on whether I am back. Please cover [meeting / shift] or move it. [Name] has the notes in [place]. Nothing else on my list is time-critical today. I am not going into symptoms. Happy to share a doctor’s note if policy requires one.

If your workplace expects a call:

Hi [name], it’s [you]. I am calling in sick for today’s [shift / day]. I cannot work. [Coverage sentence]. I will follow this with a short message so you have it in writing. Thank you.

If you might also be out tomorrow:

I do not know yet about tomorrow. I will text you by [time] either way so you can plan coverage. If you need a note after [N] days, tell me the policy path and I will follow it.

What not to send:

Sorry for the essay. I have [graphic symptom list], I was up all night, I might have [guessed diagnosis], but I can still hop on the 2 p.m. if you need me…

Watch-outs

  • Symptoms are not a credibility costume. Managers do not need the clinical story to approve a sick day. Oversharing is hard to unshare.
  • Do not ask teammates to hide the absence from the scheduler or HRIS.
  • Attendance policies can be strict and still have to coexist with sick leave and protected leave. If you are being punished for legitimate sick time, ask HR which policy applies. This page is not a ruling on whether that punishment is lawful.
  • Contagion is a reason to stay offline, not a reason to write a public play-by-play in the team channel.
  • If you are well enough to work and simply do not want to, use PTO or say you need a personal day if policy allows. Mislabeling it makes the next real sick day harder.