Faxing human resources
Reporting an absence on time, without revealing anything about your health condition.
Many HR departments keep a fax line to receive absence notices, supporting documents, certificates, and correspondence from employees. In France, sick leave notifications are now sent electronically from the doctor's office: the health insurance fund informs the employer directly, and often all that's left is for you to report your absence from day one. Fax still plays a role for documents outside these channels, or when the company requires it. Request the fax number from HR or consult the internal regulations; then place your employee ID at the top of the transmission report — with no medical information whatsoever.
Why the human resources department still accepts faxes
HR receives documents from a variety of sources: doctors, insurance funds, training organizations, employees on assignment. The fax machine serves as a single point of contact, reachable even by someone without intranet access during their leave.
For you, it's a way to put a date on your notification. A transmission report records the day and time sent to the department number: if the absence notification date is ever disputed, it settles the matter. Keeping your copy also avoids having to ask the doctor for another one.
Where to find the valid number
- The internal regulations, the welcome booklet, or the intranet list the HR department contacts.
- Your contract, a pay slip, or a recent HR letter: the department's address appears there, sometimes along with the fax line.
- Your manager or a colleague who knows the line used on site; ask HR to confirm if possible.
What the cover sheet should say
- The company, the site, and the "HR" designation.
- Your last name, first name, employee number, and assigned department.
- The subject: absence notification, extension, supporting document, certificate.
- The dates concerned and the page count, without any medical details whatsoever.
The proof to archive
Keep the transmission receipt and the file you sent: if the absence notification date is ever disputed, the report records the day and time it was sent to the department number.
Other channels, sometimes preferable
The stoppage notice transmitted electronically
Where the doctor and the insurance fund inform the employer directly, all that's often left is to notify your absence by phone or email.
The HR portal or the manager's email
Immediate and traceable when the company allows it; check that the mailbox remains monitored during holidays.
Registered letter with return receipt
Resignation, dispute, correspondence with evidentiary value: this is the format expected of you.
Other guides
- Health data is on the move: getting the right number matters even more here.
- Water damage, theft, accident: the reporting deadline is ticking, and proof of sending counts.
- Disputed tax notice, document requested by the office: the case reference is everything.
- Pension, life certificate, RIB to update: a social security number copied without a single error saves months.
Send to an organisation
This topic
- Faxing an organization: instructions
- Disputed tax notice, document requested by the office: the case reference is everything.
- Pension, life certificate, RIB to update: a social security number copied without a single error saves months.
- A sick leave notice sent too late cuts into your benefits: the send date counts double.
Keep reading
Pages chosen to help you prepare a send, track it, or keep proof of it.