Approving or Denying Your Team's Time Off Requests

Purpose

When a direct report requests time off on a policy that routes to the reporting manager, the request comes to you. This article explains where requests appear, what to check before you decide, what your decision does to the employee's balance and notifications, what you can undo, and what happens when someone else acts in your place.

Who can do this: Reporting Managers, for their direct reports, on time off policies configured to route to the reporting manager. Policies can instead route to the Employer Admin. An employee who has no reporting manager on record routes to the Employer Admin automatically, even on a manager-routed policy.

When to use this: a request email arrives, or you see a pending count on My Team > Time Off or in the mobile app.

Three ways to act on a request

From the email

Every request routed to you sends an email that shows the employee, the policy, the dates, the amount, and the employee's comment. It has Approve and Deny buttons. Clicking one opens UZIO. If you are not logged in, you log in first and the action completes. The email also has a link that opens the request in the mobile app.

On the web

Go to My Team > Time Off.

• Pending lists requests waiting for you. Open a request to see the employee's comment and any other approved or pending time off that overlaps the same dates, so you can check coverage.
• Completed lists requests that have been decided, whatever the outcome.

Choose Approve or Deny. You can add a comment before you confirm.

In the UZIO Mobile App

Go to More > Manage Team > Time Off. The same Pending and Completed split applies. Open a request, review who else on your team is out, and approve or deny. You can add a comment here too.

What to check before you decide

• Coverage. The request view shows other time off that overlaps the dates.
• The employee's comment. It is on the request and in the email.
• Balance. The request shows the amount being requested and the employee's balance on that policy. UZIO already blocks employees from requesting more than their available balance, unless the policy allows a negative balance.
• Timing. If the dates are inside a pay period that has already been paid, see "A request arrived for dates already paid" below.

What your decision does

The employee's portal and app update to the new status.

Approved time off flows into payroll for the pay period that contains the dates, according to the policy your company set up. You do not need to do anything else for it to be paid.

Changes after your decision

• The employee cancels. Employees can cancel a pending request, and an approved request whose start date has not passed. You receive an email. If the request was approved, the hours return to the employee's available balance automatically.
• The employee wants different dates. Requests cannot be edited. The employee cancels and submits a new request. You will see a cancellation followed by a new request; that is expected.
• You want to reverse an approval. An approver or admin can cancel an approved request. The hours return to the employee's balance and the employee receives a cancellation email that names the approver. If you do not see a cancel option on your screen, ask your HR administrator to cancel it.
• You want to reverse a denial. Not possible. Ask the employee to resubmit.
• The leave has already started. Employees cannot change or cancel an approved request once its start date has passed. Corrections after that point are made by your HR administrator through a balance adjustment or a corrected on-behalf entry.

When you are away

There is no delegate or backup approver in UZIO, and no reminder is sent for requests you have not acted on. Requests wait in your queue. Your Employer Admin, and any other user whose access covers the employee, can approve or deny in your place. Tell your HR administrator before a planned absence.

Common problems

A request disappeared from my Pending list

One of two things happened:

• The employee cancelled it. You also received a cancellation email.
• Someone else with access approved or denied it. Employer Admins can act on any request. When they do, the request is recorded against them and may no longer appear in your lists. The employee's own Time Off History shows the final status.

I clicked Approve and got "Leave Request is already Approved" (or "already Denied")

Someone acted on the request before you, or you clicked twice. No further action is needed. Check the employee's Time Off History if you want to confirm the outcome.

An employee cancelled time off I had already approved

This is allowed until the leave starts. The balance restores automatically and you receive an email. Nothing to undo. Update your coverage plan.

An employee wants to change time off that already started

They cannot. The employee sees "Past-dated time-off requests cannot be changed or cancelled. Please contact your employer if you need any updates." Send them to your HR administrator, who can adjust the balance or enter a corrected request on their behalf.

A request arrived for dates already paid

Approving it records the leave and adjusts the balance, but it cannot change a paycheck that has already been issued. Before you approve, check with your payroll administrator how they want the hours handled. They may need to correct the pay separately.

Related articles

• Getting Started as a Reporting Manager
• Employee side: Requesting and Managing Time Off
• For admins: Submitting a Time Off Request on Behalf of an Employee
• Policy rules: Understanding Accruals and Carryover