---
title: "Approve staff leave requests"
description: "Review, approve, or deny time off, pick the right paid or unpaid reason, and get notified the moment someone asks."
type: guide
updated: 2026-09-14
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/staff/leave-requests
roles: ["super_admin", "center_admin"]
platforms: [web, ios, android]
---
Staff request time off, and you approve or deny it, under **Staff & Time → Leave**.

## You are told when someone asks

When a staff member submits their own request, the admins who could approve it get a push notification and a row in the bell. That is owners, center admins pinned to that request's center, and center admins who are not pinned to any center.

The notification follows your **Leave updates** preference, so you can turn it off in your notification settings if you would rather work from the list.

Leave that an admin files on someone's behalf is approved on the spot and notifies nobody.

## Review requests

The list shows the staff name, the leave type, start and end dates, number of days, and status. Filter with the **All, Pending, Approved, Denied** tabs. Pending requests are also flagged on your dashboard's Needs Attention list.

If you are a center admin pinned to one center, you see that center's requests. Owners see the whole organization.

<ScreenshotWithPointers
  src="/screenshots/owners/staff/leave-requests.png"
  alt="The Leave page with All, Pending, Approved and Denied tabs, and a table of requests with per-row actions"
  pointers={[
    { x: 18.1, y: 14.2, caption: "Filter by status. Pending is the one you act on." },
    { x: 30.2, y: 25.4, caption: "The leave type, which is the reason the staff member picked." },
    { x: 70.8, y: 31.5, caption: "Status. Only a pending row offers approve and deny." },
    { x: 81.4, y: 31.5, caption: "View, approve (green check), deny (red X)." },
    { x: 90.1, y: 8, caption: "Log Leave records time off on someone's behalf. Export CSV takes the list away with you." },
  ]}
/>

## Approve or deny

On a **Pending** request, the Actions column shows three icons:

- The **eye** opens the request.
- The **green check** approves it.
- The **red X** denies it.

Approved and denied requests keep only the view action.

## Paid and unpaid reasons

Leave has two parts: whether it is **paid**, and **why** the person is out. The reasons on offer change with the paid setting, because some reasons only make sense one way.

**Paid:** Personal, Sick, Vacation, Holiday, Parental, Bereavement, Jury duty.

**Unpaid:** Personal, Sick, Parental, Bereavement, Jury duty, Medical, Other.

Vacation and Holiday are paid by definition, so they are not offered as unpaid. A day off without pay and without a named reason is Personal or Other.

<Callout kind="info" title="Ask your team to update the app">
Older versions of the iOS app cannot show the newer reasons and fall back to displaying "Personal". The request itself is stored correctly and the paid or unpaid setting is always accurate. Updating the app makes the labels read right.
</Callout>

## Add a request for someone

Click **Log Leave** to enter leave on a staff member's behalf, which is what you want when someone tells you in person. It is approved immediately.

**Export CSV** takes the current list, filters and all, if you need it outside NestliCare.

You can also log leave straight from **Staff & Time → Schedule** while you are looking at the week it affects.

## How leave reaches the rest of the system

- **Schedule.** Anyone on approved leave shows as on leave on the roster for those days, so you can see the gap before you fill the shift.
- **Timesheets.** Approved paid leave carries into the timesheet for the period, which is how it reaches payroll.
- **Leave days** stay counted in days, not converted into hours.

## Troubleshooting

**I was not notified about a request.** Check that **Leave updates** is on in your notification preferences. Also check the request's center: a center admin pinned to one center is only told about their own center's requests.

**A reason I expected is missing.** Check the paid setting first. Vacation and Holiday only appear on paid leave; Medical and Other only on unpaid.

**A request shows the wrong reason on someone's phone.** Their app version predates the newer reasons and falls back to "Personal". The web dashboard shows the real value.

**I approved leave and then scheduled them anyway.** The roster marks them on leave, but it will not stop you. Check the week before you assign the shift.

Related: [Staff scheduling](/owners/staff/staff-scheduling), [Approve a timesheet](/owners/staff/approve-a-timesheet), [Configure notification defaults](/owners/settings/configure-notification-defaults).