Faxing your employer’s HR department
Sick note, certificate, proof of absence: let them know on time without saying too much.
In many companies, the human resources department still has a fax for sick notes, proof of absence, certificates and letters from staff. Under your province’s employment standards and your workplace policy, an employer usually expects to hear about a sickness absence promptly. Ask HR for the number or check the staff handbook, then put your employee number and your site on the cover page. Send only the document meant for the employer, with no medical information.
Why an employer’s HR department still takes faxes
HR departments receive documents from every direction: doctors, health insurance funds, training bodies, staff on the road. A fax gives them a single entry point, reachable even by someone locked out of the intranet — while on sick leave, for instance.
For you, it is a way to prove you gave notice in time. Some provinces now limit when an employer may ask for a doctor’s note for a short absence; when a note is required, or for disability-insurance forms, fax remains a quick way to deliver it.
Where to find the right number
- The staff handbook, onboarding pack or intranet, which often list the personnel department’s contact details.
- Your employment contract, payslips or a recent HR letter, which show the department’s address and sometimes its fax.
- Your manager or a colleague, who can quickly tell you the number used locally — have HR confirm it if you can.
What the cover page should say
- The company name, the site and the words “Human resources”.
- Your full name, employee number and team.
- The subject: first sick note, extension, proof of absence, certificate.
- The dates concerned and the total page count, with no medical detail whatsoever.
The record to keep
Save the transmission report next to the file exactly as it went out. If there is ever a disagreement about when you reported your absence, the report pins down the day and time it went to the department’s number. A copy kept at home also saves you asking your doctor for a duplicate.
Other channels, sometimes better
Electronic sick-note transfer
Where the doctor or insurer sends the note straight to the employer, you often only need to report that you are absent.
The HR portal or your HR contact’s email
Fast and traceable if the company allows it; make sure the mailbox is monitored during holidays.
Registered post
The choice for a resignation, a dispute or any letter that has to stand as evidence, depending on the employment law that applies.
Other recipients
- Health data on the line: getting the number right matters more here than anywhere.
- After a leak, a crash or a burglary, the clock on reporting starts ticking: proof of sending counts.
- A review letter, a reassessment, a request for receipts: your SIN and the letter’s reference do the sorting.
- An application, proof of age, a direct-deposit change: one wrong SIN and the file stalls.
Faxing a public body
In this section
- Faxing an organisation
- A review letter, a reassessment, a request for receipts: your SIN and the letter’s reference do the sorting.
- An application, proof of age, a direct-deposit change: one wrong SIN and the file stalls.
- Health data on paper again: the number must come from the plan, not from a search engine.
Where to go next
Hand-picked pages to help you prepare, send or prove your fax.