---
title: "Approve staff leave requests"
description: "Review, approve, deny or cancel staff time off, pick the right paid or unpaid reason, and get notified the moment someone asks."
type: guide
updated: 2026-10-11
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, deny or cancel it, under **Staff & Time → Leave**.

<VideoEmbed
  src="staff-explained"
  title="Staff and time, explained: the schedule, timesheets and time off (narrated, 3 minutes)"
  captions={false}
/>

## 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. Cancelled requests show under **All**. 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). Pending and approved rows also have a bin icon to cancel." },
    { 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 four icons:

- The **eye** opens the request.
- The **green check** approves it.
- The **red X** denies it.
- The **bin** cancels it (see below).

Approved requests keep the eye and a **bin** icon to cancel them. Denied requests keep only the eye.

## Cancel leave

The **bin** icon (**Cancel this leave**) on a pending or approved request cancels it. If it was already approved, the staff member is told it was cancelled. The request is not deleted. It stays on record as **Cancelled**.

## 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** downloads the requests in the status tab you are on, with dates, hours, and whether each one is paid. Hand it to whoever runs payroll.

You can also log leave from **Staff & Time → Schedule** with the **Staff Leave** button, 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.
- **Days and hours.** Requests are counted in days. A payroll run turns paid days into hours using **PTO Hours per Day** in **Staff & Time → Payroll → Settings**.

## 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 by mistake.** Click the bin icon on the request to cancel it. The staff member is told.

**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), [Finalize timesheets](/owners/staff/approve-a-timesheet), [Request leave](/teachers/timesheets/request-leave) (what staff see), [Configure notification defaults](/owners/settings/configure-notification-defaults).