Sick leave documentation for NYPD civilian employees
Your agency decides when an absence has to be documented, and which paperwork it wants. Certicare is where a state-licensed provider evaluates you and completes that documentation when it's appropriate.
Start My Intake- Completed and signed by a state-licensed provider
- Notes usually within about an hour; forms usually within 24 hours, after we have everything needed
- Kept private and never sent to your agency without your say-so
Which document do I actually need?
A short absence, when your agency asks for proof, needs a note showing you were evaluated and when you could return. A serious or recurring condition that needs job protection takes an FMLA certification. A lasting condition where the job itself has to change takes accommodation documentation.
If you're not sure which applies, start the intake and answer the questions. Sorting that out is our side of the work.
What if I'm a sworn officer?
Then a note from an outside provider will not do what you need. Your sick status runs through the Department's Medical Division and your district surgeon, and they decide when you go out and when you return. Certicare can't place you on sick report, and we won't provide documentation that suggests otherwise.
There are places where documentation from an outside provider still matters, including FMLA certification and paperwork supporting an accommodation request. If that's what you're facing, the intake will route you there. If you're looking for a call-out note, we'll tell you before you pay.
When does my agency require a doctor's note?
Approval of sick leave sits with your agency, and it can require proof of your illness. When proof is required, it's generally due within five working days of your return to work. Your agency can also ask for proof during an absence, once you've been out five or more consecutive working days.
Two practical notes. The clock runs from your return, not from the day you called out. And the proof has to be satisfactory to the agency, so it needs to name the dates and carry a licensed provider's signature.
How many sick days can I take before documentation is required?
Your agency can waive the proof requirement for short absences, and often does. It generally can't keep waiving it once any one of three things happens: you're out more than three consecutive work days, you've used undocumented sick leave more than five times in a six-month period, or more than four of those times fell right before or after a holiday or a scheduled day off.
"Times" is the part people misread. One stretch of consecutive sick days counts as one time, not one per day. A half day counts. The six-month periods run January through June and July through December.
Once you're required to document, that stays in place until you finish a full six-month period with no more than two sick occasions. It isn't permanent, and it isn't a disciplinary finding on its own.
How one sick leave period is counted
Tap a mark to see how it counts.
$49 covers your full case: clinical review, the supported forms it needs, and any verification, clarification, or corrections — no additional charges.
Secure online intake. Your information is reviewed by Certicare and is not sent to your agency without your authorization.
A provider evaluates you and completes documentation when it's medically appropriate. Payment isn't a purchase of a note: a provider may follow up with questions, or decide a note isn't appropriate. Your agency makes the final call on whether to accept what we send. If we can't complete your documentation, you get a full refund.
Certicare is not affiliated with or endorsed by the New York City Police Department, the City of New York, or any union. Your agency makes the final decision on sick leave, medical leave, and accommodation requests. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Who counts as an NYPD civilian employee?
Civilian members of the service are NYPD employees who aren't sworn officers. Police Communications Technicians and dispatchers, School Safety Agents, Traffic Enforcement Agents, and the clerical and administrative titles across the Department.
Most civilian titles are union-represented. PCTs and supervising PCTs are DC 37 Local 5911. School Safety Agents are Teamsters Local 237. Traffic Enforcement Agents are CWA Local 1182, with Local 1181 covering associate titles.
The distinction matters more than it sounds. Civilian titles follow the City's leave rules, the same framework covering other city agencies. Sworn officers follow the Department's own medical process.
What about FMLA or a longer medical leave?
FMLA protects your job for up to 12 weeks in a 12-month period for your own serious health condition or to care for a spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, or another qualifying family member. To qualify you need 12 months of City service and 1,250 hours worked in the past 12 months.
The City uses its own paperwork rather than the federal forms. You file DP-2494. Your provider completes DP-2496, the City's certification of a health care provider. You generally have 15 calendar days to get the completed certification back. If your leave will run more than 30 days in a row, the Department's Military and Extended Leave Desk handles it.
A nurse practitioner can complete DP-2496. So can the workers' compensation forms in the C-4 series, if your condition came from the job.
How do I ask for a workplace accommodation?
An accommodation changes how you work: a tour or schedule change, limited duty, equipment, leave used as the accommodation, or pregnancy and lactation needs.
You request it on Department form PD 407-015A and give it to your supervisor, who sends it to the Equal Employment Opportunity Division. City law then requires a cooperative dialogue, a real back-and-forth about what you need. The EEO Division generally has to start that within 10 days and give you a written decision within 15 days after it ends.
Your provider's letter does specific work here. It has to be on letterhead, dated and signed, list the provider's credentials, describe your limits as they relate to your job, and say whether those limits are permanent, temporary, or unknown. A diagnosis isn't required.
Where these rules come from
The sick leave and FMLA rules on this page come from the City's own published documents. You can read them yourself.
- Citywide Agreement, Article V, Section 5— sick leave and proof of disability
- DCAS Personnel Services Bulletin 440-8R— FMLA for City employees
- NYPD Reasonable Accommodation Request for Employees— the form and what your provider's letter must state
Founded by a licensed nurse practitioner
Rebecca Martel, APRN, FNP-BC, is the founder of Certicare and a family nurse practitioner who has completed hundreds of these forms.