Request and approve time off

This guide covers: submit a leave request, check balance, approve or deny, and see leave on payroll.

Submit a leave request

What it does: Lets an employee request paid time off against an assigned policy (vacation, sick, personal, or other).

Where: Employee portal → Leave Requests (/employee-portal/leave-requests).

Steps:

1. Click Request Time Off in the top-right corner.
2. In Time Off Type, click the policy card you want to use (Vacation, Sick, etc.). Each card shows your current available balance.
3. Choose a Request Type: Full Day · Partial Day · Multi-Day.
4. Pick the Date (or Start Date and End Date for multi-day). The picker is locked to today or later.
5. For Partial Day, enter the Start time and End time; for Full Day, hours default to 8.
6. Type a Reason so the reviewer has context.
7. Click Submit Request. The status badge shows Pending.

Who: Employee.

Notes: Only policies assigned to you appear in the type list. If the section is empty, your manager has not assigned a time-off policy yet.

Check balance

What it does: Shows available, used-YTD, and accrued-YTD hours for each policy assigned to the employee.

Where: Employee portal → Leave Requests → Your Time Off Balances card.

Steps:

1. Open /employee-portal/leave-requests.
2. The balances grid shows one card per policy with: Available · Used YTD · Accrued YTD.
3. Compare the Available number against the hours you want to request before submitting.

Who: Employee.

Notes: Balances refresh after every approved request and every payroll-run accrual. Unlimited policies show no number — accrual is not tracked.

Approve or deny

What it does: Lets a manager review pending leave requests, approve them (debit the balance), or deny them with a reason.

Where: Accountant dashboard → Leave Requests (/clients/[clientId]/leave-requests).

Steps:

1. The page opens filtered to Pending. Use the Status dropdown for All Statuses · Pending · Approved · Denied · Cancelled.
2. Scan the row: Employee · Type · Dates · Hours · Balance · Status · Submitted · Actions.
3. Click the green Approve button to open the Approve Leave Request modal — confirms the hours and the resulting balance, takes an optional note.
4. Click the red Deny button to open the Deny Leave Request modal — requires a reason.
5. The four summary cards at the top of the page track Pending · Approved This Month · Denied This Month · Pending Hours.

Who: Accountant on the dashboard.

Notes: Approving deducts hours from the employee's balance immediately. Denials send the reason back to the employee on their request history.

See leave on payroll

What it does: Surfaces approved PTO / sick / holiday hours on the employee's next timesheet and pay run.

Where: Accountant dashboard → Timesheets (/clients/[clientId]/timesheets) and the payroll run review.

Steps:

1. Open the timesheet for the pay period that contains the approved leave date.
2. PTO, Holiday, and Sick columns on the entries grid carry the approved hours for that day.
3. When you start a payroll run for the period, those hours flow into the payroll item alongside regular hours.

Who: Accountant or client owner running payroll.

Notes: Cancelling a leave request after approval returns the hours to the balance and removes them from the timesheet if payroll has not yet processed.

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Related: Time-off policies · Timesheets.