Leave dates can be adjusted to accommodate unexpected changes like medical complications, extended treatment plans (as certified by a healthcare professional), or family care plan changes.

The most important thing to note when changing your leave dates is that the change may impact your claim filings and leave pay.

Read on to see what steps you might need to take should your leave plans change.

Yes! You can adjust your expected dates even after you’ve submitted your leave plan. Once submitted, any changes made to your dates will trigger an email to your manager and HR team to inform them of the change. You should submit your leave as soon as you're ready — the sooner you can let your team know, the more time they will have to adequately prepare for your leave.

To edit your leave dates, log in to your Cocoon dashboard and select Edit plan.

From there, select the leg of leave you’re planning to adjust and the calendar tool will pop up. Reselect your start date and adjust your leave dates to align with your intended or provider recommended changes.

Once you’ve selected your new dates, you’ll be prompted to give a reason for the change to help your employer better understand your situation. Select a reason from the dropdown list, or choose Other and type the reason into the text box.

Once you confirm the changes, we’ll notify your employer of the changes to your leave dates and work with them to adjust your pay if needed.

Currently, all paid leave policies are inclusive of state and/or private insurance benefit programs. This means that throughout your leave, you may have up to 3 sources of income:

In order for your leave forms and claim information to be accurate, your leave dates in Cocoon must be kept up to date. If your dates in Cocoon do not align with the time taken, you may experience gaps or delays in pay, or under or over payments from each of the above sources. If the date changes impact an active claim or include coverage from a benefit program, you will need to update your dates with all applicable claim entities.

If your claim[s] has not yet been filed:

If your claim[s] has already been filed:

You will need to reach out to your applicable claim entities directly to update your claim coverage dates. You can see which entities are processing your claims on the Your claims section in your Cocoon Dashboard.

Refer to this Contacting your claims provider article to find contact information for each entity.

When you contact your claim provider, they'll first request personal identifying information, such as your name, social security number, date of birth, address, or employer information. Once they've identified you and your claim, you should inform them of the necessary changes to your claim dates and ask what information is needed to substantiate the adjustments.

Depending on the change, they may or may not need additional medical certification or medical records from your healthcare provider.

Oftentimes, if you are making an extension to your dates of disability, but that time is still within the insurance standard period of coverage for your diagnoses, they will not require additional medical certification.

If you are making an extension beyond their standard period of coverage for your diagnoses, then they will likely require your medical provider certify that extended time and/or provide medical records or notes to substantiate the extension.

If you are adjusting our claim effective date (your first day away from work with disability) to be earlier than originally certified, they will require a new medical certification from your provider establishing the new claim effective date.

Because standard periods of coverage for specific diagnoses may vary by claim entity, we recommend connecting with a representative directly to confirm what specifically is needed for your claim.

If your claim is not disability related and is for Paid Family Leave, reaching out to your claim entity to update them with your true leave dates and expected return to work should be sufficient to ensure everything is all set. Should anything further be needed, they'll be able to provide you this information directly.

Don't forget to always adjust your leave dates in Cocoon to reflect your actual time taken, so we can ensure your pay is coordinated with your employer accurately.

Due to the privacy restrictions and sensitivity surrounding disability claims, Cocoon is unable to contact your claim entity and make changes to your claim on your behalf. State programs and private insurance carriers require that these changes come directly from the recipient of benefits to protect your privacy and protect against fraudulent claims.

Cocoon is happy to provide guidance through this process and provide support wherever we can!

You will not be able to adjust your dates if the change extends your leave beyond the time available to you. You’ll see a message that your leave dates reflect the maximum amount of leave covered by relevant laws and company policies.

In some cases, you might be able to request additional leave time as an accommodation. For more information on requesting leave as an accommodation, please see this article.

How do I request additional time after my leave has ended?

If your leave ended 30 days ago or more: click the Create new plan button on your Cocoon Dashboard as shown below.

If your leave ended less than 30 days ago: click the Edit plan button on your Cocoon dashboard. From there, you'll be prompted to create a new leave.

You are able to adjust past dates. In an effort to mitigate accidental date changes, however, Cocoon will block any attempt to remove three or more weeks of prior taken leave time and prompt you to contact your employer instead.