It can be. Forging a doctor’s signature or handwriting on an excuse note is forgery under California law when it is done with intent to defraud and the note affects a legal, monetary, or property right, such as pay for a shift you missed. The note does not have to be a check or a contract, but not every false note meets these requirements, and a forgery charge can be filed as a misdemeanor or a felony.

Which part of the forgery statute applies

Penal Code section 470 has separate subdivisions. Subdivision (a) covers signing another person’s name, without authority, to the documents listed in subdivision (d), such as checks, contracts, and vehicle ownership certificates. An excuse note is not named on that list.

Subdivision (b) is broader. It makes it forgery when a person, with intent to defraud, “counterfeits or forges the seal or handwriting of another,” and it contains no list of documents. The jury instructions for forgery (CALCRIM Nos. 1900 and 1902) note that a document not listed in subdivision (d) “may still come within the scope” of the statute through this handwriting clause.

Subdivision (d) also makes it forgery to pass, or try to pass, a forged item as genuine, knowing it is forged and intending to defraud, and its list ends with “any matter described in subdivision (b).” Turning in a note that someone else forged can therefore be charged as well.

Not every false writing is forgery. CALCRIM No. 1902, the instruction for subdivision (b), explains that a document outside the subdivision (d) list can qualify if, on its face, it “could possibly defraud anyone,” and that it “must affect an identifiable legal, monetary, or property right.” The instruction’s notes, citing Lewis v. Superior Court (1990), give an example of a writing that did not qualify: a campaign letter bearing a false signature of President Reagan could not be the basis of a forgery charge.

A note used to collect pay for a day you did not work involves money. A note that only excused an absence, with nothing of value riding on it, is a harder fit, and whether it meets this requirement is a real question to raise with a lawyer.

What intent to defraud means

Intent to defraud is the core mental element. Under CALCRIM No. 1902, it is an intent to deceive someone for a particular end: making them lose money, goods, services, or some other thing of value, or harming a legal, financial, or property right. Deceiving someone is not enough by itself; the deception has to be aimed at one of those results. On the other side, the prosecution does not have to show that anyone was actually defrauded or actually lost anything.

So the questions go beyond whose name is on the note: what you were trying to get or avoid, whether the day was paid, and what the note actually changed.

Penalty: misdemeanor or felony

Penal Code section 473(a) allows two sentencing ranges for forgery: county jail for no more than a year, or a felony sentence under Penal Code section 1170(h). A forged excuse note can be charged either way, and no dollar amount decides which.

Section 473(b) has a $950 rule, but only for forgery “relating to a check, bond, bank bill, note, cashier’s check, traveler’s check, or money order” worth $950 or less. That list is made up of payment instruments, and a written excuse is not one of them. Where the rule does apply, the penalty is up to one year in county jail, with two exceptions:

  • A person with a prior conviction for an offense listed in Penal Code section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv), or for an offense requiring registration under Penal Code section 290(c), may instead be punished under section 1170(h).
  • The rule does not apply at all to a person convicted of both forgery and identity theft under Penal Code section 530.5.

Evidence that matters

  • The note itself, kept exactly as it is
  • Pay and attendance records showing whether the day was paid, unpaid, or covered by leave you already had
  • The employer’s or school’s policy on what the note was used for
  • Records showing whether you were seen or treated on the date claimed, and any messages with the doctor’s office
  • Who wrote or signed the note, if it was not you

Do not create a replacement note, ask anyone to backdate one, or alter the original.

Getting help

Whether a false signature on an excuse note becomes a forgery case depends on what the note was used for and what you intended. Call (800) 755-5174 to go over the note and the surrounding facts with the Law Offices of David S. Chesley.