# Reviewing and approving time-off requests

> Work the approvals queue: see who requested time off, how many shifts it touches, and approve or deny — an approval blocks scheduling automatically.

Canonical: https://enmantle.com/help/approve-time-off · Section: Scheduling & Coverage · Updated: 2026-09-20

When your staff [request time off](/help/request-time-off), it lands in one place for you to act on. This guide covers the approvals queue — how to read it, how to approve or deny, and what an approval does to the schedule so coverage never slips through the cracks.

## Open the approvals queue

You'll know a request is waiting: you get a notification in the app and an email, and the schedule's `Tools` menu shows a red count next to `Time Off Requests`. Open `Tools` and choose `Time Off Requests` to reach the queue, titled `Time Off Requests`.

Managers, directors, admins, and super-admins can review requests. A manager sees requests from staff at their location; directors and admins see everyone.

## Read the queue before you decide

The pending list gives you everything you need to make the call in one row:

- `Staff` — who's asking.
- `Dates` — the range they want off (with a time window if it's a partial day).
- `Reason` — whatever they typed, or a dash.
- `Requested` — when they submitted it.
- `Scheduled shifts` — the part that matters most for coverage. If they're already on the schedule during those dates, you'll see an amber `N in range` badge; if not, it reads `None`. That number is your heads-up that approving this will leave shifts to re-cover.

## Approve or deny

For each pending request:

1. To approve, tap `Approve`. You'll see "Time off approved," and the request moves to `Recent decisions`.
2. To deny, tap `Deny`. A box opens — `Reason for denying (shared with staff member)`. Add a short reason so they understand, then tap `Confirm deny` (or `Back` to step out). The staff member sees this note.

Either way, the staff member is notified in the app and by email with your decision.

> You can't approve or deny your own time-off request — that row shows `Needs another manager`. Someone else with approval rights has to sign off, so no one clears their own days.

## What approval does to the schedule

Approving isn't just a courtesy — it changes what the scheduler can do:

- The staff member is **blocked from being assigned** on those dates. In the shift editor's assignment picker they come up as a conflict, the same hard block that stops a double-booking. Overriding it works the same way too — it follows your role, and a reason is written to the audit log.
- Their approved days show as a distinct **rose-striped band** on the [Time Grid](/help/weekly-schedule-time-grid) — an all-day band for a whole day off, or a timed band for a partial-day window — labeled `Time off`. Anyone reading the week sees at a glance who's out.

A **pending** request doesn't block anything yet — it shows up as a soft warning when someone tries to schedule that person, so you're nudged but not stopped. Only an approval turns into a hard block.

## Handle the coverage the approval creates

If the `Scheduled shifts` badge warned you that approving would strip coverage, deal with those shifts next. Open the week on the Time Grid, find the now-conflicted shifts on the person's row, and reassign them or [convert them to open shifts to find coverage](/help/call-off-coverage). Approving the time off and covering the gap are two steps — the queue handles the first, the grid handles the second.

## Cancelling approved time off

Plans change. If someone's approved time off is no longer needed — they can work after all, or it was approved by mistake — find it under `Recent decisions` and tap `Cancel time off`. That frees those dates back up on the schedule, and the staff member is notified it was cancelled.

## Next steps

- See what your staff experience in [Requesting time off](/help/request-time-off).
- Re-cover the shifts a leave opens up with [call-off coverage](/help/call-off-coverage).