How to Request a Leave of Absence: Steps, Timing, and Letter Templates You Can Copy (2026)

How do you request a leave of absence?

Work out which category of leave you are requesting, because that decides the rules: your own or a family member's serious health condition, a new child or military exigency (FMLA and, in 14 jurisdictions, state paid leave), a disability (ADA accommodation), military service (USERRA), or a reason no law covers (personal leave under the employer's policy). Check the handbook for the notice period, the form and the approver. Tell your manager in person or by call, then put the request in writing the same day: start date, expected end date or duration, continuous or intermittent, the reason at the level of category (a medical condition, care for a parent, a personal matter), your handover plan and how to reach you. For FMLA leave give 30 days' notice when the need is foreseeable and notice as soon as practicable when it is not; the employer then has five business days to send the eligibility and rights notices and may ask for medical certification, due within 15 days. Get the approval in writing with the return date and terms, and keep copies. You never have to disclose a diagnosis; never call a medical leave a vacation. Source: 29 CFR 825.302 to 825.305.

Step 1: identify what kind of leave you are asking for

Everything else depends on this, so it comes first. Leaves in the United States fall into a small number of legal categories, and each has its own notice rule, its own paperwork, its own pay position and its own protection. If the reason is your own serious health condition, a family member's serious health condition, a new child, or a family member's military deployment, and you have been with your employer for 12 months, worked 1,250 hours in the last year and work at a site with 50 employees within 75 miles, you are asking for FMLA leave whether or not you use the words, and in the 13 states and the District of Columbia with paid family and medical leave programs you are also asking for state benefits. If the reason is a disability that limits your work and you need time off or a change in how you work, you are asking for an accommodation under the ADA, which has no tenure test. If the reason is military service, USERRA applies. If the reason is something the law does not cover, extended travel, study, a family situation that is not medical, caring for a sibling in a state without a program, you are asking for a personal leave of absence under your employer's policy.

The category changes what you write. An FMLA request needs dates and the category of reason, and triggers a set of employer notices with legal deadlines. An ADA request is the start of an interactive process and benefits from a description of the limitation and the accommodation you have in mind. A personal leave request is closer to a business case: what you need, how the work will be covered, and what you are asking the employer to promise about your return. Getting the category right also protects you from the most expensive mistake, which is describing a medical leave as personal or as vacation because it feels simpler. The FMLA's protections attach when the employer knows enough to see that the leave may qualify; an employee who hides the medical reason has not given that notice, and has also handed the employer a reason to treat the absence as unprotected.

If you are not sure which category applies, say so in the request and let HR classify it. A sentence such as I believe this may qualify as FMLA leave but would like HR to confirm is a perfectly good sentence. HR has the legal duty to ask for the information it needs and to tell you within five business days whether you are eligible, and putting the question to them shifts the risk of misclassification where it belongs.

Step 2: check the handbook and the clock

Read the leave section of the handbook before you talk to anyone, because it tells you three things: the notice period the employer expects, the form or system the request goes through, and who approves. Most employers have a leave request form, an HR portal or a leave management tool, and using the employer's channel is not optional for FMLA leave: the regulations let an employer require employees to comply with its usual and customary notice and procedural requirements, so a request made only by text message to a colleague can be treated as no request at all, unless an emergency made the normal channel impossible.

Then check the clock. For FMLA leave that is foreseeable, a planned surgery, a due date, a scheduled course of treatment, you must give at least 30 days' notice; if you learn of the need less than 30 days out, as soon as practicable, which in practice means the same day or the next business day. For unforeseeable leave, an accident, a sudden hospitalization, a premature birth, notice as soon as practicable means following the employer's normal call-in procedure as soon as you or someone acting for you can, and the regulations expressly allow a spouse or family member to give the notice if you cannot. Giving less notice than required for foreseeable leave lets the employer delay the start of your leave by up to 30 days from the date you did give notice, so the 30-day rule has teeth. State paid leave programs mostly mirror the 30-day rule for foreseeable leave. The ADA has no notice period, though an accommodation cannot start before you ask for it. Personal leave is governed entirely by the policy, and policies commonly ask for two to four weeks' notice for leaves of a month or more.

The clock runs the other way after you submit. For FMLA leave the employer has five business days to give you the eligibility notice and the rights and responsibilities notice, and if it asks for medical certification you have 15 calendar days to return it, with a further seven days to fix a deficiency if the employer says the form is incomplete. Once the employer has enough information to decide, it has five business days to send the designation notice that tells you the leave is or is not FMLA leave and how much of your entitlement it will use. If those notices do not arrive, ask for them in writing; the deadlines exist for your benefit.

Step 3: talk first, then write the same day

Tell your manager before HR reads the request, in a short conversation or a call, because the manager is the person who will have to plan around your absence and will remember whether they heard it from you. Keep the conversation to what the manager needs: when you expect to be out, roughly how long, whether you will be reachable, and what you propose for cover. The manager does not need the medical detail and, under the FMLA, is not the person who should be receiving it; the certification goes to HR or the leave administrator, and only they may contact your provider. If the manager asks what is wrong, it is fine to answer that it is a health matter you are handling through HR.

Then put the request in writing the same day, to the address or system the handbook names, with the manager copied. Written notice is not a legal requirement for FMLA leave, but it is the only way to prove later what you said and when, and the date of the written request is the date the employer's five-day clock starts. Email counts. Keep the request factual and short. The letters later in this guide are a page each, and none of them needs to be longer.

Step 4: what to include, and what to leave out

A complete request has seven elements. The date you are writing. The first day of leave. The expected last day or expected duration, and, if you do not know, your best estimate with a commitment to update it. Whether the leave will be continuous, intermittent or a reduced schedule, and for intermittent leave the expected pattern as far as you know it. The reason at the level of category: a medical condition that requires treatment, recovery from a procedure, care for a parent with a serious health condition, the birth of a child, a personal matter. What you are asking about pay, if you have a preference: to use PTO for some or all of the leave, or to keep it. And practical points: how you can be reached, whether you want to be reached, and your handover plan or your offer to prepare one.

What to leave out is mostly medical. You do not have to state a diagnosis in the request or in the certification; the regulation lists a diagnosis as one of several medical facts the provider may include, not one it must, and many providers describe conditions in functional terms. You do not have to name the treatment, the provider, the hospital or the medication. For a family member's condition you do not have to describe their illness beyond the fact that it is a serious health condition and that you are needed to provide care. Do not include speculation about how the leave might affect your role, offers to work while on medical leave, or apologies. A request is a notice, not a plea.

One more thing to include when it applies: a request for the employer's response in writing, stating the approved dates, how the leave is classified, what will happen to pay and benefits, and the return arrangements. For FMLA leave the designation notice does this; for personal leave nothing does unless you ask.

Four leave of absence letter templates

Replace the bracketed fields, delete any sentence that does not apply, and send from your work email or through the employer's leave system with your manager copied. Each letter deliberately gives the category of reason and not the medical detail.

Letter 1, medical leave for your own condition (FMLA). Dear [Manager's name] and [HR contact], I am writing to request a leave of absence for a medical condition that requires treatment and a period of recovery. I expect to begin leave on [start date] and to return on or about [return date]; my health care provider will confirm the expected duration on the certification form and I will let you know promptly if the dates change. I believe this leave qualifies under the Family and Medical Leave Act and ask that it be designated as FMLA leave; please send me the eligibility and rights and responsibilities notices and the certification form so that I can return it within the 15-day period. I would like to use [number] hours of my accrued PTO during the first part of the leave and to keep the remainder for my return, if the policy allows. I will prepare a handover document for [colleague's name] covering [projects] before [date] and can be reached at [personal email or phone] for urgent questions during the first week only. Please confirm the approved dates and the terms of the leave in writing. Thank you. [Your name, title, date].

Letter 2, leave to care for a family member (FMLA). Dear [Manager's name] and [HR contact], I am requesting a leave of absence to care for my [mother, father, spouse, child], who has a serious health condition and needs my care. I expect to need [continuous leave from start date to return date] or [intermittent leave of approximately number days a month for appointments and care, beginning on start date, for the next number months]. I believe this qualifies as FMLA leave and ask that it be designated as such; please send me the required notices and the certification form for a family member's serious health condition, which I will return within 15 days. I would like to [use, keep] my accrued PTO during the leave. My handover proposal is attached, and I will confirm any change to the schedule as soon as I know it. Please confirm the approval and terms in writing. Thank you. [Your name, title, date].

Letter 3, personal leave of absence (policy leave). Dear [Manager's name] and [HR contact], I would like to request a personal leave of absence under the [company] leave policy, from [start date] to [return date], for [a personal matter, to complete a degree program, to relocate my family, extended travel]. This leave is not for a medical, family medical, parental or military reason. I understand that the leave is unpaid and that my health coverage, PTO accrual and seniority during the leave will follow the policy; I would appreciate written confirmation of each. I am asking to return to my current position, or, if the policy provides for it, to a comparable one, on [return date], and I will confirm my return date in writing [two weeks] beforehand. I propose the following cover for my responsibilities: [plan]. I will [not be, be] reachable during the leave at [contact], and I will not undertake other employment during the leave [if the policy requires this]. Thank you for considering the request. [Your name, title, date].

Letter 4, intermittent or reduced-schedule leave (FMLA). Dear [Manager's name] and [HR contact], I am requesting intermittent FMLA leave for a chronic medical condition that requires ongoing treatment. I expect to need approximately [number] hours every [week, two weeks] for scheduled treatment, which I will arrange [early in the day, on a set weekday] to limit disruption, and occasional unplanned absences of [one to two days] when the condition flares, for which I will follow the normal call-in procedure. I ask that the leave be designated as intermittent FMLA leave for the next [twelve months] and that you send me the required notices and the certification form; my provider will state the expected frequency and duration. I would like my absences recorded in hours against my FMLA entitlement and to be told my remaining balance on request. Thank you. [Your name, title, date].

A shorter email version, for the same-day written notice when the full letter will follow: Subject: Leave of absence request from [start date]. Hi [Manager], following our conversation today, I am requesting a leave of absence beginning [start date], expected to last until about [return date], for [a medical condition, care for a family member, a personal matter]. I believe it [qualifies as FMLA leave and would like HR to confirm, falls under the personal leave policy]. I will send the full request and handover plan by [date] and complete any forms HR needs. Thank you, [Your name].

For employers: the acknowledgment letter

Every request deserves a written answer, and for FMLA leave the law prescribes most of it: the eligibility notice within five business days, the rights and responsibilities notice with it, and the designation notice once the employer has enough information. Those three are covered in the guide to FMLA notices. What the FMLA does not prescribe, and what personal leave has no substitute for, is the plain acknowledgment that confirms the terms. A good one fits on a page and reads in this shape.

Dear [Employee's name], this confirms your request for a leave of absence received on [date]. Based on the information you provided, the leave is classified as [FMLA leave, for which the eligibility, rights and responsibilities and designation notices are attached] or [a personal leave of absence under the company leave policy; it is not FMLA, ADA, USERRA or state-protected leave because the reason you gave is not covered by those laws, and if that changes please tell HR immediately]. Your leave is approved from [start date] to [return date]. [For FMLA leave: number hours or weeks will be counted against your entitlement.] During the leave you will [use number hours of accrued PTO from start date, after which the leave is unpaid] and your health coverage will [continue on the same terms with your premium share collected by payroll deduction from paid days and by monthly invoice thereafter] or [end on date, with COBRA election materials to follow]. PTO accrual and seniority will [continue, pause] during the unpaid portion. [For personal leave: on your return you will be restored to your current position, or to a comparable position if it is no longer available.] Please confirm your return date in writing by [date]; if you are unable to return on the date, contact HR before it so that we can discuss options. Your leave contact is [name and address]. [Signature, title, date].

Two habits make the letter worth more than the paper. Send it for every leave, not only the contested ones, so that its absence is never a signal. And make it the record the manager works from, so that the person holding the role open is reading the same terms the employee was given.

The mistakes that cost people their protection

Waiting. Employees who know a surgery date in January and mention it in March have given less than 30 days' notice, and the employer may delay the leave. Employees who are hospitalized and assume the absence is obvious have not given notice at all until someone calls. Notice as soon as practicable means the first day it can be done, by anyone on your behalf if necessary.

Calling a medical leave something else. Vacation, a personal leave, a few days off: any label that hides the qualifying reason from the employer means the employer does not have the information that triggers the FMLA, and the leave is not protected until it does. It also gives an employer that later wants to treat the absence as unexcused a reason to. State the category of reason plainly.

Saying too much. Disclosing a diagnosis, a treatment or a prognosis in the request, in the hallway, or to a manager who asks is never required, cannot be unsaid, and moves information out of the confidential channel the regulations built for it. Answer the category question and let the certification carry the medical facts.

Not returning the certification. Fifteen days from the request, seven more if it comes back incomplete. An employer may deny FMLA protection for leave taken while a certification it properly requested remains outstanding, and many do. If the provider is slow, tell HR in writing before the deadline and ask for the extension the regulations allow for good-faith efforts.

Not getting the answer in writing. A leave approved in a conversation is a leave whose terms two people remember differently. Ask for the approval, the classification, the pay and benefit terms and the return arrangements in writing, and for FMLA leave make sure the designation notice states how much of your entitlement is being used.

Notice and response deadlines at a glance

The clocks that run on each side of a leave request, by category. State paid leave programs and state family leave acts add their own, generally similar, rules.