Does Target Accept Doctor's Notes? Attendance Points and Sick Time

Target confirmed a significant attendance-policy change for 2026, so this is one of the few employer pages where the company’s own comment to reporters, not just an internal policy PDF, is part of the public record.

What Target says about attendance and sick time

Starting in September 2026, Target began tracking unexcused lateness and no-shows for hourly store and warehouse workers using a points system, according to reporting by Fortune and Fast Company that Target confirmed on the record. Under the system: arriving more than eight minutes late costs a quarter point, missing a shift without a manager’s approval costs one point, and a no-call, no-show costs three points. Three points triggers a required check-in with a manager, five points can lead to formal counseling, and 12 points results in termination. Points expire after 365 days. A Target spokesperson told Fast Company the change is tied to CEO Michael Fiddelke’s push to improve the in-store guest experience, without addressing how documented medical absences are coded within the system.

On pay and time off generally, Target’s own corporate careers page states that the company offers “paid time off, sick pay and paid national holidays” to eligible team members, and that hourly team members qualify for benefits at 25 hours a week, which Target describes as an industry-leading threshold. Target has not published the specific sick-pay accrual rate, the number of hours or days available, or the documentation threshold (how many consecutive absences trigger a note requirement) on its public site. If you need that level of detail, it lives in Target’s internal team member handbook or the Workday-based systems store leaders reference, not in anything published externally.

How state and local sick-leave laws change the picture

Target operates in nearly every state, including several with statewide or local paid-sick-leave laws that set floors a company policy, or an attendance point system, can’t undercut:

• Minnesota, Target’s home state, has its own statewide Earned Sick and Safe Time law. See Minnesota doctor’s-note and sick-leave laws.
• California has a statewide paid-sick-leave law plus local ordinances in several cities where Target operates. See California doctor’s-note and sick-leave laws.
• Illinois requires paid sick leave statewide, and Chicago adds its own ordinance. See Illinois doctor’s-note and sick-leave laws.
• New York has a statewide paid-sick-leave law, with New York City layering on additional protections. See New York doctor’s-note and sick-leave laws.

Where these laws limit what documentation an employer can demand for a short sick absence, or protect the absence from disciplinary points altogether, they control regardless of what an internal attendance tracker is configured to do.

When a doctor’s note is typically requested

Independent of what Target’s tracker records, the general practice among large retail employers is to request documentation for longer or repeated absences rather than a single sick day, mainly to confirm the employee was seen by a provider. A basic note for this purpose needs the dates involved and a licensed provider’s signature; it doesn’t need to state a diagnosis. EEOC guidance treats this kind of routine request differently from a disability-related inquiry: an employer that has a policy or practice of asking all employees to substantiate sick leave with a note can do so without meeting the ADA’s stricter job-related, consistent-with-business-necessity standard. That tougher standard applies to inquiries likely to reveal the nature of a disability, such as asking for a diagnosis or detailed medical history, not to a routine request for dates and a signature.

A note also should not need to describe symptoms in detail or predict how long a condition might recur. If a manager asks for more than dates and a signature, that request is worth pushing back on regardless of which employer is involved. The point of documentation is to confirm the absence was legitimate, not to give an employer insight into a diagnosis it has no job-related reason to know.

Practical steps if you’re out sick

• Call out through Target’s usual process as early as possible, since the new tracker weighs a no-call, no-show far more heavily (three points) than a reported absence.
• Ask your team leader or HR directly what documentation, if any, is expected for your specific situation. Because Target hasn’t published its internal threshold, this is genuinely a “check locally” answer rather than a policy you can look up.
• Keep your own record of when you reported an absence and to whom, plus a copy of any note you submit, in case a point gets applied that you believe shouldn’t have been.
• If an absence is protected by law, say so explicitly when you report it, and follow up in writing if a point appears on your record for an absence you believe should be excused.

FMLA and longer absences

A serious health condition, whether your own or a family member’s, generally belongs in Target’s formal leave-of-absence process, not a single doctor’s note or a contested attendance point. Employees who meet FMLA’s eligibility requirements (about 12 months of employment and 1,250 hours worked in the prior year, per the U.S. Department of Labor) can request job-protected leave with its own medical certification process. CuroNote does not provide FMLA certifications, disability paperwork, or fitness-for-duty clearances. Those need to start with Target’s leave process directly.

Where an online doctor’s note fits

A note signed by a physician licensed in your state is a legitimate medical document regardless of whether the visit happened in person or online. Target has not published a position on online doctor’s-note services, and nothing here should be read as Target accepting, endorsing, or partnering with CuroNote. CuroNote is launching soon and does not yet issue notes; how a specific absence or point is handled remains entirely Target’s call.

CuroNote is not affiliated with Target.