Excuses to Leave Work Early [34 Excuses That Work]

So you want to leave work early huh? Maybe you have a job interview scheduled or you’re just burnt out. Whatever the reason, I’ve got you covered with some of the best excuses I’ve heard in my 20-year career as a hiring manager.

Some of these can be used last-minute, but for most, you’ll want to give your manager plenty of notice.

Tips to Using These Excuses

First things, first. The excuses are only half of the equation to getting out of work early. How you use them matters a lot. So let’s cover some best practices.

Know the Company Policies

Your company may have rules about who can take PTO and sick leave. They may have rules about when you can take it. For example, one organization I worked with did not allow PTO on days immediately before or after a paid holiday. Whether you like these rules or not, it’s best to know them so you don’t get yourself in trouble.

Some companies also have processes that have to be followed to request time off. Make sure you follow the process. If you’re unsure, the best place to look is in that employee handbook they gave you on the first day.

Know the Company Culture

Policy is one thing, culture is another. Some companies encourage employees to take PTO and don’t care when or how you take it as long as the work gets done. They are generous with flexibility. Others hold PTO like it’s a reward for good behavior and you have to get approval for every little thing. If you’ve been with your company longer than a few months, you should know what this looks like.

Know Your Manager

Your relationship with your manager matters a lot here. Most managers I’ve worked with are more willing to grant these requests when the employee is a top performer or they have a good relationship. Like it or not, being likable will help, as will doing your job well.

Avoid Negative Patterns

Don’t overuse these excuses to dip out of work early. If you’re constantly late or trying to leave early all the time, you’re likely to be denied more often or worse, eventually fired. Be aware of your patterns and be cautious. If you’ve been taking a lot of time off for legitimate things, you may not want to push it for something trivial. Sometimes life happens. One month I was out for nearly 10 days because everyone in our house was sick. It happens. But I didn’t request anything else because I knew I had been out of the office a lot already.

Have Good Timing

Timing is everything. Even if it’s a last-minute request, waiting an hour could be beneficial. Try to time your request when your manager is in a good mood and not dealing with a crisis. It could make a difference in your success.

A great time to ask about leaving early is after a successful product launch, after tax season has ended, or a big sale has closed. Managers are usually pretty stoked in these situations and more likely to grant your request.

Have a Plan For Your Work

Take ownership of your work product. If you have a plan and have made arrangements to get work done even if you leave early, you’re more likely to be permitted the time off. Provide solutions for covering your absence. By not placing the burden on your manager, they’ll be more likely to accommodate you.

Prepare to Document

Be prepared to provide documentation in case your boss is still reliving an episode of Mad Men or your company is still in the Stone Age treating their employees like kindergartners. I kid you not, one time I had to provide documentation of my jury duty summons because my boss didn’t believe that I was on jury duty. Also, be prepared with doctor’s notes if you are sick.

Be Honest

There’s no point in lying. Be as honest about your reason for leaving early as you can. Obviously, there are some things you can’t say, such as I’m going to a job interview, but don’t go over the top. Keeping track of lies will eat you up inside and eventually catch up to you.

Say Thank You

It’s true, please and thank you goes a long way in this world. Say thank you if they say yes.

Best Excuses to Leave Work Early

No Reason

This one is my favorite because people always think they need an excuse. If you have a good relationship with your manager and the right company culture, sometimes it’s ok to simply say, “I need to head home early today to take care of some things.” And yes, that is enough in the right circumstances. Don’t feel that you have to come up with a lie.

Dental Appointment

This is similar to a doctor’s appointment, but possible to use with less notice. If you have a toothache, broke a tooth, or had a temporary crown come off, dentists often schedule appointments the same day. It’s very believable and possible that you had something come up, called the dentist on your lunch break, and they booked you an appointment later that afternoon.

In this case, explain to your manager what happened and that they were able to get you an emergency appointment to have it looked at. Most people won’t question you taking care of your oral health.

Car Trouble

Maybe you got out of work earlier this week because of a flat tire or battery problem. If so, it’s quite possible you need to leave work early to deal with a car repair or pick your car up from the service department.

If you were in a car accident recently, you may be picking up your car from the body shop or meeting with an insurance adjuster.

Home Maintenance or Repairs

There are so many things that can go wrong with owning a home. A storm came through and your basement was flooded. A pipe broke and you had to turn your water off until it could get fixed. A tree fell down in your yard. You might have had a gas leak from your dryer. All of these things happen and require someone to fix them. It’s a valid reason to leave work early so you can meet a technician at your house to take care of any of these situations.

Let your manager know what happened and the time window that someone is supposed to arrive so they know why you have to leave early. Most people are understanding of these things, especially the severe ones.

Home Security Alarm

Hopefully, this doesn’t ever happen to you, but if you receive a phone call from your security company that an alarm has been triggered, you should inform your manager immediately and let them know you have to leave early to check on your home.

If there have been breaking or vandalism in your neighborhood, let your manager know that too so they don’t think you’re overreacting. And if it turns out to be a false alarm, let your manager know that as well.

Illness

It’s possible you came to work feeling slightly sick, but not bad enough to stay home. Or maybe an illness just hits you mid-day. It happens. It may be difficult to gain sympathy for mild things such as your stomach hurting, but if you vomit or have diarrhea, your manager will probably let you go home early. If you’ve had to go to the restroom frequently, you’re not getting much work done anyhow. You might as well ask to go home.

Sick Child

If one of your kids is sick and you have to pick them up from school early, it’s a valid reason to leave work that most managers won’t hold against you. Explain the situation to them, make arrangements to get your work done, and leave early.

Death In Family

No one is going to ask you any questions if you receive a call about a family member who has died. Simply let your manager know what has happened and that you need to be with family.

School Event

If you have kids there are going to be school events you’ll want to attend, things like performances or mother’s day tea. Hopefully you work in a company that values families and doesn’t give you grief about leaving early for these things. Make sure to give your manager plenty of advance notice.

Legal Matters

From time to time, we may have legal matters to attend to such as custodial meetings. You may be required to be in court as an expert witness. There are many situations that may arise where you need to leave early for legal situations. Explain to your manager as much as you can and let them know as far in advance as possible.

Bad Weather

No manager wants to be responsible for putting their employees in harm’s way and that includes major storms that may be coming through. If you’re expecting bad weather, and I mean really bad weather, then it’s a great time to ask to leave work early to get ahead of the storm. This could include a major snowstorm, a heavy rainstorm, or hurricanes.

If the weather is already bad before you leave for work, you may consider asking to work remotely.

School Pickup

Kids are usually out of school before most parents leave their 9-5 job. If you have younger kids who can’t be home alone, you may have to pick them up from time to time when someone else isn’t available or if your child is sent home early for any reason. Where we live, there are minimum days where the kids leave early so teachers have planning time. Most managers with kids themselves can relate and few will want to question this one.

Injury

If you injure yourself on the job, you’ll be going home early. No one wants to risk a workers compensation claim going astray. This also applies to kids or others in your care who may suffer an injury at school or at home. Let your manager know what has happened and they’ll most likely let you leave. If you were injured at work, they’ll need to complete some forms and send you to a doctor first.

Networking Function

The more your job depends on networking, the more likely this excuse will work. Let your manager know in advance what the networking event is and why you think it’s important to attend. Feel free to share who you met or any interesting conversations you had when you return to work the next day.

I also consider CPE (continuing professional education) seminars for licensing and other professional development opportunities the same as networking functions.

Client Meeting

If you’re in an account management or sales role, there’s a good chance that you’ll want to meet with clients at their office or take them out for coffee or lunch. Be sure to inform your manager of which client you are meeting with and why. This could be something you plan in advance or it could be last minute. It’s possible you called the client in the morning and they agreed to meet with you later that same day.

If you scheduled it toward the end of the day, you could go home afterward and make it an early day. No one will know.

Election Day

This one should be foolproof. Most states have laws that require employers to give you the flexibility to come in late or leave early in order to vote if you are scheduled to work during voting hours.

DMV Appointment

Everyone dreads going to the Department of Motor Vehicles. While many things can be done online these days, some things still require an in-person appointment. You don’t need the entire day off, but you can ask to leave early to get your license updated or that real ID that you’ve been pushing off. I’m pretty sure your employer won’t want you driving with an expired license.

Good Excuses to Leave Work Early

Doctor Appointment

Any kind of medical appointment is a valid excuse to leave early. Most likely you will know about this in advance, so be sure to give your manager plenty of notice that you’ll need to leave work early. Then you can remind them the day of, “I have to leave early today for that doctor’s appointment I mentioned last week.”

It could be last minute if it’s an emergency appointment or the doctor called with a cancellation and it’s something important you shouldn’t put off any longer. But even then, this isn’t an excuse you can most likely use mid-day, same day. At the latest, you’ll need to notify your manager on the morning of the appointment. It’s very rare that a doctor will schedule an appointment within hours unless it’s an emergency. And that’s a different excuse.

Family Emergency

This one is too vague to make it into my “best excuses” category and it’s a bit overused in my opinion. It’s always best to be as specific as you can with your excuses (cough), I mean reasons, for leaving work early. If you use this, be prepared to explain what the family emergency is. And it better not be we ran out of milk and you have to go to the grocery store.

Cough

This one I think is situational. If you are constantly coughing and your job involves a lot of talking, such as telesales, you’re no good at the office. In this case, your boss is likely to agree it’s best if you take the rest of the day off work. Don’t try to fake it though. Everyone can tell a fake cough from a real one.

Migraine

Severe migraines are no fun. It hurts to look at light and move around. Over a billion people worldwide are affected by them each year (NIH) so there’s a good chance your supervisor will relate. Let them know your symptoms and that you have a history of migraines so they know you’re not overreacting to a normal headache.

Pet Emergency

If you had something happen to your pet and needed to schedule a vet appointment, you could approach your manager about leaving early. Many vets only work during typical business hours and the only way to take your pet in is to take time off work. This probably isn’t a last-minute excuse unless something traumatic happened before you left for work, but in that case, you’re probably better off taking the day off instead.

Banking

Depending on your working hours and how long your lunch break is, you may not have time to go to the bank outside of work hours. Using this for everyday run-of-the-mill activities probably won’t work, but if you need to sign documents for a loan or open a new account, you might be able to use this as a good reason to leave work early.

Mental Health

More and more managers are starting to understand the importance of mental health, but it’s still not mainstream enough to make it into the best excuses category. If you’re at the end of a busy, successful week or just completed a large project and need a break - ask your manager if you can leave early.

It could be a combination of work and personal matters that cause you to need a break too. Big life events such as buying a house or getting married can lead to the need for a mental health break. Explain the situation to your manager and ask to leave early.

Community Service

This is more likely to be successful if you work at a company that values community involvement. I once worked at a company that gave us 3 paid community service days to volunteer for different causes in the community. Even if you don’t have “community service” specific days in your PTO (paid time off) policy, you may still be able to use this for things like volunteering at a shelter, running in a fundraiser for charity, or even an HOA meeting.

Holiday

Some employers will let you pack up early on the day before a holiday, especially if it is a company-recognized holiday.

Traffic

I wouldn’t use this all the time, but if there’s a major event happening that causes extra traffic, it’s worth a try. As I write this in the Los Angeles area, Coachella is happening and I wouldn’t want to be on the road this Friday.

Bad Excuses to Leave Work Early

Stomach Pain

For most people, this isn’t a great excuse. I can think of limited times when someone had severe abdominal pain to the point they couldn’t stand, but that’s rare and even that isn’t an excuse to leave work early. That’s an excuse to call an ambulance. Stomach pain reminds me of children complaining of tummy aches so they don’t have to go to school or eat the food they don’t like. That’s not the image you want to portray to your manager. I’d avoid this one.

Headache

This is a terrible excuse to leave work early. If you have a migraine, that’s different. But for a headache, everyone knows you can take a pain reliever and call it a day. You’re probably better off finding a better reason to leave.

Boredom

Yes, I’ve had someone say this before and no it didn’t work.

Job Interview

You probably don’t want to tell your manager that you’re looking for a new job in most cases.

Grocery Shopping

There’s nothing time-sensitive about this one and most managers aren’t going to empathize with you enough to let you leave early.

Hangover

The last thing you want to do is tell your manager that you’ve been working all day with a hangover.

Anything Your Manager Won’t Empathize With

You know your manager better than anyone else. You probably know if they have pets or kids. You know what their hobbies are. If you find something that they can relate to, you’ll have more success in leaving early.

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Can You Get Fired For Leaving Early

This was a great question someone asked me during a coaching session last week. They’re trying to leave a toxic environment and for some interviews, they need to leave work early.

The unfortunate answer is yes, you can get fired for leaving early. With the exception of Montana, every US state has an at-will employment doctrine which means you can be fired for any reason. There are some exceptions to this such as if you have an employment contract that stipulates otherwise.

Your best bet is to follow the tips I gave at the beginning of this article and use the excuses as minimally as possible.

Leave Work Early Excuses Recommended Reading

40 Excuses to Work From Home [And What to Say To Your Boss]

32 Bulletproof Excuses to Get Out of Work

Best Excuses to Quit a Job Without Notice [How to Do It Right]

Is Freelancing Worth It

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Cole Sperry has been a recruiter and resume writer since 2015, working with tens of thousands of job seekers, and hundreds of employers. Today Cole runs a botique advisory firm consulting with dozens of recruiting firms and is the Managing Editor at OptimCareers.com.