Managing Leave Management Time Off Requests

⚡ What are Leave Management Time Off Requests?

A Leave Management time off request is a way for an employee to request time away from work on specific dates, such as for vacation, sick time, or bereavement, using time from one of their balances.

Each request shows who's asking, when, which balance it comes from, and whether they have enough to cover it, so you can decide based on your team's coverage. Approve it, and the platform adds the time off to the relevant payroll and updates the employee's pay, balance, and the Scheduler for you. Reject it, and you can leave a comment explaining why. Either way, the employee is notified of your decision, so everyone stays on the same page.

📌 | Note: Time off requests that aren't tied to a balance, where an employee is only marking themselves as away, work differently. They don't affect any balance or payroll and are managed only from Shift Approvals on a desktop. For those requests, refer to our How To Approve Or Reject Shift Approvals On A Desktop article.

🔐 Access required

Leave Management is available on the Supreme package or the Signature package with the Leave Management Add-On. Both require the Payroll Add-On.

Who can manage leave management time-off requests?

• Super Administrators: Full access to approve, reject, edit, reverse Leave Management time off requests, and add a request on an employee's behalf.
• Team Administrators: Can approve, reject, edit, reverse Leave Management time off requests, and add a request on an employee's behalf, if they have View/Update the Scheduler permission for the relevant Positions. Limited access to which employees, based on the permissions granted for the relevant Employee Groups under View Employee List. If you are unable to access, please confirm your permissions with a Super Administrator.

📋 Topics covered in this article:

• Accessing Leave Management Time Off Requests
• Reviewing Leave Management Time Off Requests
• Approving or Rejecting Time Off Requests
• Reversing an Approved or Rejected Request
• Editing a Pending Time Off Request
• Adding a Time Off Request on an Employee's Behalf
• What Happens After a Request Is Approved
• Frequently Asked Questions About Leave Management Time Off Requests

📚 Related articles:

• Check out our dedicated Leave Management section to find how-to guides, FAQs, and more.

Accessing Leave Management Time Off Requests

Once an employee submits a Leave Management time-off request, it appears on the admin side right away and remains Pending until it's approved or rejected. You can access these requests from three places in the platform. Each one is suited to a different task, so where you go depends on what you need to do.

This section will guide you through the following:

• Accessing Requests From the Push Manager App
• Accessing Requests From Shift Approvals
• Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile

Accessing Requests From the Push Manager App

The Push Manager App is best for responding to requests on the go. You can approve or reject any pending Leave Management time-off request that's awaiting a decision.

1. Open the Push Manager App and log in.
2. Tap the Three-stripe menu (☰) in the top-left corner, or swipe right to open the side panel.
3. Tap Time Off Requests, and pending requests will be listed under Needs Manager Approval!

Accessing Requests From Shift Approvals

Shift Approvals is best when you want an overall view of everything that could affect your team's availability. Alongside Leave Management time-off requests, it lists weekly availability changes, shift swaps, and shift releases, so you can see the full picture before making a decision. You can filter the page by Position or by Direct Reports, and use the date filter to look back at completed requests that have already been approved or rejected and make changes if needed.

1. Click the Scheduler or Employees tab.
2. From the left-hand navigation bar, click Shift Approvals.
3. Scroll to the Vacation and Payout Requests box to see pending requests across all employees!

Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile

An Employee Profile is most effective when you know exactly who you need to follow up with. In addition to approving or rejecting pending requests, it's the main place to edit a request, add one on the employee's behalf, or reverse an approval or rejection. You can also review all of the employee's past requests and accruals breakdown by payroll year.

1. Click the Employees tab.
2. From the left-hand navigation bar, select the appropriate Employee List: Active, Pending, On Leave, or Inactive.
3. Under Search, enter the employee's name.
4. Under Edit, click the pencil icon next to the employee.
5. The page will load up the employee's profile details. 
6. From the left-hand navigation bar, select Time Off.
7. The Time Off page will load, and you'll see a summary of the employees' Leave Management balances and any pending requests awaiting action. 
8. Click Pending, Approved, or Rejected to filter the requests you want to review. If needed, click the Payroll Year drop-down menu and select the year.

Reviewing Leave Management Time Off Requests

Before approving or rejecting a request, take a moment to review its details. These help you confirm the employee has enough time available and that your team will still have coverage.

Detail	What It Shows	How to Use It
Employee	The employee's name and the date and time stamp when the request was submitted.	If two employees request the same dates, you can see who requested them first (e.g., 2026-01-01 11:41 AM).
Policy	The balance of the request is coming from (e.g., Vacation or Sick Time) and whether it's paid or unpaid.	Confirm the employee chose the right type of time off.
Current Balance	The employee's current balance as of the request, whether in hours, days, or dollars. Also broken down by day and total. For example: Balance: 88 hours	Compare it to the requested amount to confirm coverage.
Requested Amount	The total requested time, with a breakdown by day. For example: Request: 16.00h Mon Oct 26, 2026: 8.00h Tue Oct 27, 2026: 8.00h	Depending on the policy, employees may be allowed to request more than their balance. Review the amounts to ensure they align with your company policy (e.g., you allow only 4 or 8 hours of sick time per day).
Start/End Date	The dates the employee will be away.	Check for any conflicts with scheduled shifts or busy periods.
Other Employees Off	Employees with the same Position who are already approved for time off during those dates.	Helps you decide whether your team can cover the time.
Reason	Any comments the employee added to explain the request.	Follow up with the employee if anything needs clarifying.

Approving or Rejecting Time off Requests

We recommend reviewing Leave Management time off requests daily or as often as you can. Regular reviews ensure that anything urgent or affecting an upcoming payroll is handled in time. Reviewing early also gives you time to follow up with an employee directly if you need more details or context before approving or rejecting their request.

Timing also matters because of how approved time off is processed in payroll. When you approve a request, the platform looks at the dates requested and automatically adds the time off to the payroll that covers those dates. If that payroll has already been processed by the time you approve it, the time off is added to the next upcoming payroll instead, so the employee may be paid later than expected.

Once a request is approved, the employee's pay, balance, and the Scheduler are updated automatically. If a request is rejected, the pending time is returned to the employee's available balance. Either way, the employee is notified by email and/or push notification, depending on their notification settings.

This section will guide you through the following:

• Approving or Rejecting From the Push Manager App
• Approving or Rejecting From Shift Approvals
• Approving or Rejecting From an Employee Profile

Approving or Rejecting Time Off From the Push Manager App

Approving or rejecting requests in the Push Manager App lets you respond to them from your phone, wherever you are.

1. Open Time Off Requests, as described in the Accessing Requests From the Push Manager App section of this article.
2. Under Needs Manager Approval, review the request. For details on what each request shows, refer to the Reviewing a Request section of this article.
3. To approve the request, tap the Checkmark (✔) icon:
   1. In the Approve Leave Request pop-up, review the Position. If the employee has more than one Position, tap the drop-down menu and select the Position the time off should be paid from.
   2. Under Approving this request with this earning type, review the earning preset used to pay the employee. This can't be changed.
   3. Tap Approve.
4. To reject the request, tap the X (✖) icon:
   1. In the Reject Leave Request pop-up, enter a comment explaining the decision if applicable.
      ⚠️ | Important: Any note you add is shared with the employee in their email and push notification, and is recorded in the Vacation Request Detail Report. Rejection notes became available in October 2026, so requests rejected before then won’t include one.
   2. Once ready, tap Reject.
5. The page will refresh, the request will be approved or rejected, and the employee will be notified of your decision!

Approving or Rejecting Time Off From Shift Approvals

Approving or rejecting from the Shift Approvals page lets you work through requests from all employees in one place, alongside other changes that affect availability.

1. Navigate to the Vacation and Payout Requests section, as described in the Accessing Requests From Shift Approvals section of this article.
2. To approve a request, click the Check Mark icon under Actions:
   1. In the Approve Request pop-up, under Select A Position To Approve The Balance Request For, review the Position. If needed, click the drop-down menu and select a different Position.
   2. For paid policies, under Select An Earning Type, review the earning preset used to pay the employee (e.g., Vacation Payout).
   3. Click Approve Request.
3. To reject a request, click the X icon under Actions:
   1. In the Confirm Action: Balance Request Rejection pop-up, enter a comment explaining the decision if applicable.
      ⚠️ | Important: Any note you add is shared with the employee in their email and push notification, and is recorded in the Vacation Request Detail Report. Rejection notes became available in October 2026, so requests rejected before then won’t include one.
   2. Once ready, click OK.
4. The page will refresh, the request will be approved or rejected, and the employee will be notified of your decision!

Approving or Rejecting Time Off From an Employee Profile

Approving or rejecting a request from an Employee Profile lets you make a decision with the employee's balances and past requests visible. This is helpful when you want to check how much time they've already used before responding.

1. Open the employee's Time Off page, as described in the Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile section of this article.
2. Click Pending to see requests awaiting action.
3. To approve a request, click Approve  under Actions:
   1. In the Approve Request pop-up, under Select A Position To Approve The Balance Request For, review the Position. If needed, click the drop-down menu and select a different Position.
   2. For paid policies, under Select An Earning Type, review the earning preset used to pay the employee (e.g., Vacation Payout).
   3. Click Approve Request.
4. To reject a request, click the Reject under Actions:
   1. In the Confirm Action: Balance Request Rejection pop-up, enter a comment explaining the decision if applicable.
      ⚠️ | Important: Any note you add is shared with the employee in their email and push notification, and is recorded in the Vacation Request Detail Report. Rejection notes became available in October 2026, so requests rejected before then won’t include one.
   2. Once ready, click OK.
5. The page will refresh, the request will be approved or rejected, and the employee will be notified of your decision!

Reversing an Approved or Rejected Request

Plans change. If an employee no longer needs approved time off, or a rejected request should go ahead after all, you can reverse the decision from their Employee Profile.

Rejecting an Approved Request

If an employee no longer needs time off that was already approved, you can reject the approved request. The platform then undoes everything the approval set in motion:

• The time is returned to the employee's available balance.
• The employee is no longer shown as away in the Scheduler for those dates.
• The Earning/Deduction entries created for the request, which would have paid the employee and lowered their balance, are deleted automatically.

1. Open the employee's Time Off page, as described in the Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile section of this article.
2. Select the Approved section filter; it'll default to the Pending section. 
3. Navigate the list and next to the request, click Reject under Actions.
4. In the Confirm Action: Balance Request Rejection pop-up, enter a comment explaining the decision if applicable.
   ⚠️ | Important: Any note you add is shared with the employee in their email and push notification, and is recorded in the Vacation Request Detail Report. Rejection notes became available in October 2026, so requests rejected before then won’t include one.
5. Once ready, click OK.
6. The page will refresh, the request will be rejected, and the employee will be notified of your decision!

Approving a Rejected Request

If a request was rejected but should go ahead after all, you can approve it without needing to create anothe request. 

1. Open the employee's Time Off page, as described in the Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile section of this article.
2. Select the Rejected section filter; it'll default to the Pending section. 
3. Navigate the list and next to the request, click Approve under Actions.
4. In the Approve Request pop-up, review the Position and select a different one from the drop-down menu if needed.
5. Once ready, click OK.
6. The page will refresh, the request will be approved, and the employee will be notified of your decision!

Editing a Pending Time Off Request

You may need to edit a pending request if the employee chose the wrong dates or the amount of time needs to be adjusted. Editing is done from the Employee Profile, and the updated request returns to Pending for approval.

1. Open the employee's Time Off page, as described in the Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile section of this article.
2. Click Pending to see requests awaiting action.
3. Under Actions, click Edit next to the request.
4. Under From and To, click the Calendar icon and adjust the dates if needed. 
   📌 | Note: The policy under Select Policy can't be changed. If the request was made under the wrong policy, reject it and submit a new request under the correct policy.
5. Under Employee Comment, update the reason if needed.
6. Scroll to the Pay box and choose one of the following:
   1. To update every day at once, under All Days, click the drop-down menu and select Half Day or Full Day or enter a number of hours, then click Update All Days.
   2. To update days individually, under each relevant day, click the drop-down menu and select Half Day or Full Day, or enter a number of hours.
7. Once done, click Submit For Approval.
8. The updated request will appear under Pending. Under Actions, click Approve to approve it, and you're done!

Adding a Time Off Request on an Employee's Behalf

If an employee can't submit a request themselves or needs time off within a policy's minimum advance-notice window, an Administrator can submit the request on their behalf.

1. Open the employee's Time Off page, as described in the Accessing Requests From an Employee Profile section of this article.
2. Click Request Time Off.
3. Under Select Policy, click the drop-down menu and select the policy from which the time off should come.
4. Under From and To, use the Calendar picker and select the relevant dates.
5. Under Employee Comment, enter a reason if needed.
6. Scroll to the Pay box and set the amount for all days or for each day, as described in the Editing a Request section of this article.
7. Once done, click Submit For Approval. 
8. The newly created request will appear under Pending. Under Actions, click Approve to approve it, and you're done!

What Happens After a Request Is Approved

Once a Leave Management time-off request is approved, the platform automatically updates the employee's balance, payroll, and the Scheduler.

Frequently Asked Questions About Leave Management Time Off Requests

Have questions about managing time-off requests in Leave Management? Whether you're wondering why a request isn't in the Push Manager App, why a balance changed before you approved anything, or how a request gets paid, this section provides quick answers to help you manage requests with confidence.

Q: Why isn't a time off request showing in the Push Manager App? 
A: Only leave management time-off requests appear in the Push Manager App. Requests that aren't tied to a balance are managed from Shift Approvals on a desktop.

Q: Why did an employee's available balance go down before I approved their request? 
A: When a request is submitted, the time is set aside as Pending so the employee can't request it twice. If you reject the request, the time returns to their available balance.

Q: Can employees request more time than they have? 
A: Only if the policy allows a negative balance. Otherwise, employees can only request time they've already earned. For more details, refer to our Setting Up Leave Management Policies article.

Q: Why does the payroll entry say "Calculated During Payroll"? 
A: The payment is calculated using the employee's latest pay rate when payroll is processed. The final amount appears once payroll is complete. This is to ensure that the platform uses the employees most active pay rate. 

Q: How do I pay out an employee's balance when they leave the business? 
A: Final payouts are either entered by an administrator through Earnings/Deductions or from a manual request. Refer to our Paying Out Leave Management Balances article.

Additional Information

Need further help? Refer to our Getting Help & Contacting Support article for the latest support options and ways to connect with our team.