Employer sick-note rules · airline

Does Southwest Airlines accept an online doctor’s note?

Southwest flight attendants may use one doctor's note or one self-certified Personal Illness Note per calendar quarter to excuse a sick call with no points. The contract accepts signatures from a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant and does not require an in-person visit.

What Southwest Airlines (flight attendants; ground ops) workers are told

Absences tracked

Flight attendants (TWU 556 contract Art. 32): 0.5 points per sick day, capped at 2.5 points per single continuous illness under the 2024 contract, and 2.5 points for a sick call under 2 hours before check-in. Ramp and operations agents are covered by a separate TWU Local 555 contract, which we could not open.

Note required

Flight attendants may use one doctor's note OR one Personal Illness Note (PIN, self-certified, up to 7 days) per calendar quarter to excuse a sick call with no points; a doctor's note can extend a PIN by up to 14 days if it ties the days to one illness. The note must list dates of illness, dates of treatment and the return-to-full-duty date, and be signed by an M.D., D.O., dentist, oral surgeon, clinical psychologist, chiropractor, APRN, nurse practitioner or physician assistant (2024 contract; the 2018 guide listed doctor, NP or PA). PINs may be used once a quarter, up to four times a year. Ground ops: Southwest has demanded doctor's notes from ramp workers during high-absence periods (a January weather event at Chicago Midway), which TWU Local 555 grieved as outside the contract.

Where to submit

FAs: give the note to a Supervisor or Leave Specialist before or on the next scheduled pairing or within 7 working days after the last day of absence, whichever is earlier (2024 contract; the 2018 guide also allowed fax to Attendance & Leave); PINs are submitted the same way or via SWALife.

Paid sick time

Paid sick leave is set by the TWU contracts; the attendance article does not state the accrual.

Online notes

The 2024 TWU 556 contract says 'virtual services like Teladoc will now qualify for a doctor's statement' and 'The statement of verification can include virtual or telemedicine services provided all the requirements of section 32.4 above are met.'

Verified against the company’s own published policy · 2026-09-23

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, read 2026-09-23

Contract 101 , Article 32: Attendance Policy, Calling In Sick 101 (TWU Local 556) (official, read 2026-09-23) “You may use either a Doctor's note OR Personal Illness Note (PIN) once a quarter to excuse a reported illness and not accrue points.”
Inside Union Negotiations at Southwest Airlines (TWU) (official, read 2026-09-23) “without providing a doctor's note could face disciplinary action”
TA 2024 Article 32 Attendance Policy, annotated (TWU Local 556) (union-contract, read 2026-09-23) “The statement of verification can include virtual or telemedicine services provided all the requirements of section 32.4 above are met.”

The rules that sit above Southwest Airlines’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, Southwest Airlines 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 airline employers

United Airlines

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

SickSlip is not affiliated with Southwest Airlines (flight attendants; ground ops). Employer names are used to describe their published policies. Reviewed by Adam Z. Kawalek, MD (NPI 1326223306). Facts checked 2026-09-23.

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