Employer sick-note rules

Does Instacart accept an online doctor’s note?

Full-service Instacart shoppers are independent contractors who choose when to work, so no note is needed to take a day off. In-store shoppers are part-time employees with accrued sick pay; Instacart publishes no doctor's-note rule for them.

What Instacart workers are told

Note needed?

Never required for a full-service shopper to stop shopping.

In Seattle, app-based workers earn paid sick and safe time, and the company may ask for reasonable verification only for uses of more than 3 consecutive days. No published rule for in-store shoppers.

How absences count

Full-service shoppers: not applicable, independent contractors with no attendance policy.

In-store shoppers: part-time employees on scheduled shifts of up to 29 hours a week; no attendance policy is published.

Sick pay

In-store shoppers (part-time employees) accrue sick pay (Instacart, March 2020).

Full-service shoppers get no employer sick pay, except Seattle's app-based worker paid sick and safe time.

Verified against the company’s own published policy · 2026-10-12

Get a doctor’s note · $29.99A licensed physician reviews your case online, same day. Your HR can verify it at sickslip.co/verify.

Sources

Instacart Shoppers: sign up · company document
What it says
“the flexibility to work as little or as often as they want”
“Work scheduled shifts up to 29 hours per week”
Introducing New Guidelines and Policies (Instacart, March 2020) · company document
What it says
“All Instacart part-time employees now have access to sick pay”
App-Based Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance (Seattle) · government
What it says
“request reasonable verification from the worker for uses more than 3 consecutive days”
Instacart Settles with Seattle Office of Labor Standards (City of Seattle, March 2024) · government
What it says
“Instacart Settles with Seattle Office of Labor Standards for Alleged Violations”

The rules that sit above Instacart’s policy

Federal leave law lets an employer ask for medical certification and gives you at least 15 days to return it; disability law limits medical inquiries to what the job requires; twenty states and D.C. limit when any employer, Instacart included, may demand a note; and federal guidance treats a licensed physician’s online evaluation as telehealth. The statutes and sources are on the state-by-state doctor’s note law index and in are online doctor’s notes legal?

Other gig employers

Uber · DoorDash

Every employer’s sick-note rule, in one list

SickSlip is not affiliated with Instacart (shoppers). Employer names are used to describe their published policies. Reviewed by Adam Z. Kawalek, MD (NPI 1326223306). Facts checked 2026-10-12.

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