Fax Once

Fax Once Guide

How to fax an FMLA or leave form from your phone

Updated October 31, 2026

Ask HR or your doctor's office for the right fax number, scan the completed form, send it, and keep the receipt. Check your return-by date first: under the FMLA you generally have at least 15 calendar days from your employer's request.

This is general information about US rules, not legal or medical advice. Your employer's policy and state law may add to it.

Step by step

  1. Get the form. Your employer may use its own form or a US Department of Labor form. The FMLA doesn't require one specific form. WH-380-E covers your own health condition, and WH-380-F covers a family member's.
  2. Ask who should get it. Ask HR, the benefits team or the leave company your employer uses for its fax number. Ask whether you or your doctor's office should send it, because some employers want health details to go only to a certain team.
  3. Scan every page. Check that the signatures and dates can be read. A missing page can bring the form back to you.
  4. Add a cover sheet. Put the person's name, your employee ID and the page count on it. Keep health details off it.
  5. Send, then save the receipt. Save your own copy of the form as well, and ask HR to confirm they have it. Read what a fax confirmation shows.

The deadline

The Department of Labor says an employee generally must provide the certification within 15 calendar days of the employer's request. Your employer can allow longer. If you try in good faith and still can't meet the deadline, you are entitled to more time, so tell HR early.

A late form matters. Your employer can deny FMLA protection for leave after the 15 days until a complete form arrives. If a form is incomplete, your employer must tell you in writing what is missing and generally give you 7 calendar days to fix it.

If your doctor's office has the form

Doctors' offices often need time to complete forms, so don't wait until the last days. Ask how long it will take and whether they will fax it for you. If they give the form back to you, scan it and send it yourself.

Is it private?

Leave forms can hold health details, and fax is not encrypted from end to end. Check the number before you send, and ask whether someone will be waiting at the machine. If your employer has a secure upload site, compare that option first.

Sources: US Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #28G; Form WH-380-E; Form WH-380-F.