Leave approved but still getting points? Usually it's one of four things
Approved leave and points can both be true at once, usually for one of four identifiable reasons. Where the Sedgwick certification is the blocker, a state-licensed provider completes and signs it after a real evaluation.
Start My IntakeWhy am I still getting points if my Walmart leave was approved?
Both can be true at once. The leave is approved, and the attendance system is still assessing points, because approval and coding are two separate steps.
Walmart's own job aid for People Partners on intermittent leave (one.walmart.com) is direct about the rule: "Absences during the approved leave dates will be considered authorized, and the associate should not be held accountable under the Attendance Policy." So when points land anyway, some part of that sentence isn't matching your absences.
Usually it's one of four things. The absence was never reported against your case inside the two-day window. It's sitting conditional or pending. It falls outside your approved dates or frequency. Or it needs a recertification Sedgwick hasn't received.
Each one points somewhere different, and one of them may already be closed. Working out which one you have is the whole job, and the sections below go through them in order.
The grouping into four is ours. The rules behind each one are Walmart's, and every quote below is linked at the foot of the page.
Do I still have to report every absence to Sedgwick?
Yes, and this is the sentence to read twice. From Walmart's hourly associate guide to taking a medical leave of absence: "Report each intermittent absence online through mySedgwick or by phone. Absences not reported to Sedgwick within two calendar days of the date of absence will not be approved and may result in disciplinary action."
Two calendar days. Not two scheduled days, not two business days. Weekends and days off count against it.
An approved leave does not report your absences for you. The People Partners job aid says the same thing from the other side: "Associates requesting a leave-related absence must do so no later than two days after their absence." Every absence, every time, including a single shift on a case that's been open for months.
The path in mySedgwick: open your claim, and on the Summary tab use "Report an absence." Enter the Date of Absence, its Duration, and the Reason, then click Add absence. By phone, Sedgwick is 800-492-5678.
Calling out at work is a separate action from reporting the absence to Sedgwick. If you only did the first one, that's the gap to check before you escalate anything else.
What if the absence falls outside my approved dates or frequency?
This is the one where the paperwork matters more than the escalation.
An approved intermittent leave covers a date range and an approved frequency. Absences outside either one aren't covered by that approval, which is why the authorized-absence language stops reaching them. Walmart's protection there is written around "absences during the approved leave dates."
If your condition changed, or it flares more often than your certification says it does, the certification is out of date rather than wrong. That's a new or updated certification. A state-licensed provider completes and signs it after a real evaluation.
There's a clock on that as well. When documentation is requested, Walmart's hourly leave guide gives 20 days to provide it, and says "Failure to do so may result in delay or denial of your leave or leave extension."
The intake is a short online questionnaire, usually with no appointment, and the completed form comes back by email, usually within 24 hours after we have everything needed. A provider may follow up for more detail before deciding.
Certicare completes the certification. Whether an already-pointed absence gets recoded is Walmart's call, and the decision on the leave itself still belongs to Walmart.
Secure online intake. Your information is reviewed by Certicare and is not sent to Walmart or Sedgwick without your authorization.
$49 covers your full Sedgwick case: clinical review, the certification it needs, and any Sedgwick verification, clarification, or corrections. If we can't complete your request, for any reason, you're refunded in full.
Certicare is not affiliated with Walmart. Walmart makes the final decision on leave and accommodation requests. This page is general information about the leave process, not legal advice.
Can a coach or team lead remove Walmart attendance points?
Yes, within a limit worth understanding before you ask.
Points attach to attendance exceptions. A coach is a salaried manager and your People Lead is the store's HR representative, and a manager with the right access can review and correct an attendance exception in GTA, Walmart's time and attendance system. Correcting or authorizing the exception removes the point attached to it.
That is not the same as erasing points at will. Nobody is obliged to excuse an absence that really was unauthorized, and no manager can change a Sedgwick decision. If the leave dates, the approval itself, or the record of your reported absences is wrong, Sedgwick has to correct that, not your store.
So make the ask specific. These absences fall inside my approved leave case, and I need the attendance exception corrected. Bring the case number and the exact dates. An ask with dates attached is reviewable; an ask without them is a conversation.
Who do I escalate to — coach, People Lead, or People Services?
Start with the people who can act on the record. Ask your immediate supervisor, your coach, or your People Lead to review the attendance exception in GTA.
If that doesn't correct it, Walmart publishes an actual route, and it isn't People Services. The Open Door process runs in three steps: "Contact your immediate supervisor, up to and including your facility manager." Then "Contact the next level in leadership up to and including market, regional and divisional teams." Then "Visit the Open Door Page to submit your ideas, suggestions or concerns." Walmart also lists an Open Door HelpLine on 1-800-361-0781.
People Services, 800-421-1362, is published for benefits and Walmart system support. It can route you, but Walmart does not present it as the step for an associate disputing attendance points, so don't spend your energy there.
Sedgwick is a separate track, on 800-492-5678. Your store can't fix a Sedgwick record and Sedgwick can't fix a coding decision at your store. Knowing which one you're dealing with saves the most time of anything on this page.
Keep every call flat and factual. You're reporting a mismatch between an approved leave case and an attendance record. That's an ordinary, solvable problem, and it's the frame most likely to get someone to actually look.
What do "conditional" and "pending" mean on my absences?
Two different statuses, two different fixes.
Conditional is the holding pattern while Sedgwick decides. In the job aid's words, "any scheduled shifts missed after the request will be coded as conditional until Sedgwick approves or denies the absence." Nothing is settled while an absence sits there.
Pending is about recertification. The job aid again, verbatim: "Absences requiring recertification will be placed in a 'pending' status, meaning they have not yet been approved or denied. If the associate provides a recertification that supports those pending absences, they will be approved. If not, they will be denied, and the associate could be held accountable in accordance with the attendance guidelines of the facility or department."
Read the last line closely. Pending absences turn on whether a recertification that supports them arrives, and on nothing else in that sentence. That is the point where a completed certification does the work.
How do I find my Sedgwick case number?
Get it written down before you need it. Every call and every escalation moves faster when you can open with the number instead of your name.
One vocabulary gap trips people up here. mySedgwick calls it a claim number. Associates call it a case number. Same number, two labels.
In mySedgwick, the My claims page displays a list of your claims. From there you can "click the claim number," or "select a claim number from wherever it appears," and the Claim page opens. The Summary tab of that page shows the claim's Status.
By phone, Sedgwick is 800-492-5678 and People Services is 800-421-1362, both published by Walmart. For the status of one specific absence rather than the claim as a whole, ask on the phone and go one date at a time.
What paper trail should I build before I escalate?
The escalation goes differently when you're handing over a record instead of an account of what happened. So start the file now.
Six things to have.
- The dates of every absence being pointed.
- Your Sedgwick case number, plus the approved date range and frequency on the case.
- The status currently showing for each of those absences.
- When and how you reported each one.
- Any recertification request and the date it's due.
- Dated screenshots of your attendance record.
Then the conversations. Write down the date, who you spoke to, and what they said, in the same place as everything else. That file is what turns a disagreement into something a reviewer can check.
Send documents where they land, and keep the proof that you sent them. Sedgwick takes them through mySedgwick, by fax at 859-264-4372, and by email at WalmartForms@Sedgwicksir.com. A sent-mail record or a fax confirmation belongs in the file next to everything else.
Can Walmart point me for a protected absence?
For FMLA-protected absences, the Department of Labor is unambiguous. WHD Fact Sheet #28: "Employers are prohibited from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any FMLA right."
The DOL lists "assessing negative attendance points for FMLA leave use" and "writing up the employee for missing work when using FMLA leave" as examples of exactly that.
That covers absences FMLA actually protects. It isn't a blanket rule over every absence, and it doesn't settle whether a particular absence was covered, which is why the reporting and coding sections above come first.
There's also a documented pattern. On October 2, 2024, the EEOC announced Walmart's settlement of three disability discrimination suits. The consent decrees prohibit Walmart from "assessing attendance points for disability-related absences under certain situations," from "failing to offer intermittent leave as a reasonable accommodation," and from "failing to consider an employee's request for leave for disability-related medical appointments, treatment, recovery from treatment, or incapacity as a request for reasonable accommodation."
Take that as context, not as a rule to quote at a coach. Those decrees resolved specific cases, the EEOC's own wording keeps the limit "under certain situations," and none of it tells you whether you personally have a claim. What it does tell you is that this problem is known and documented, and that the agency responsible for it has acted.
When does this become a lawyer conversation?
Earlier than most people assume, and it doesn't have to start with hiring anyone.
Two agencies take complaints directly from workers. The DOL's Wage and Hour Division handles FMLA interference, which is where points assessed against FMLA-protected leave belong. The EEOC handles disability discrimination, including accommodation refusals and disability-related absences.
The EEOC runs on a clock. You "need to file a charge within 180 calendar days from the day the discrimination took place," and that deadline "is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis." Both numbers are real, so don't plan around the longer one without confirming which applies to you.
For FMLA questions, the DOL says you can contact the Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243. Ask them what deadline applies to your situation.
Talking to an employment lawyer is an ordinary step, not an escalation to be nervous about. Bring the record you built above. The first question anyone asks is what you can document.
Certicare has nothing to sell you in this section and gets nothing if you use it.
Founded by someone who's been there
Rebecca Martel, APRN, FNP-BC, is a family nurse practitioner who has completed hundreds of these forms.
Where Certicare fits
Certicare doesn't remove attendance points. That sits inside Walmart's own process, with the record you build and the people you escalate to.
Walmart's hourly guide to taking a medical leave puts it plainly: "Missing or delayed forms are the most common cause of denied leaves." That's the part Certicare works on.
When the certification or recertification is the blocker, a state-licensed provider completes and signs it after a real evaluation, usually within 24 hours after we have everything needed. $49 flat, refunded if we can't complete it.
Where these facts come from
Every quote on this page comes from one of these documents. Last checked 16 August 2026; Walmart's procedures change.