Requesting Leave

This page covers how an employee books time off — every field in the request form, the validation the server applies, and the special cases for half-days and custom hours.

The request form

Opening the booking modal presents the following fields.

Who can request for whom

Submitting a request on behalf of another person is restricted:

Half-days

Half-day booking is controlled by the leave type's allow half days setting (on by default). Morning counts as 0.5 and Afternoon counts as 0.5.

Same-day portion combinations are restricted to keep the math coherent:

For multi-day requests, a half-day at the start and/or end of the range each subtracts 0.5 from the total day count.

Custom hours

When a leave type allows hourly leave and a work schedule is defined for the chosen day, you can book an exact window:

• Single day only — the end date is locked to the start date.
• 15-minute increments for both start and end time.
• Minimum duration of 15 minutes.

If no schedule exists for that date, custom hours can't be calculated and the request is blocked (see Troubleshooting below).

Validation rules (and why)

The server validates your request in this order. Understanding the order helps you read errors correctly — the first failing rule is the one reported.

1. Date order — the end date must not be before the start date.
2. Minimum notice — if the leave type sets a minimum notice period and you book inside it, the request is blocked. This gives managers time to arrange coverage.
3. Business-day count — the deducted day count uses organization business days (default Mon–Fri) and excludes public holidays (org holidays, the user's holiday country/region, and per-user overrides). Skipped days appear in an info banner. You don't spend allowance on non-working days.
4. All-non-working range — if your range contains zero working days, the request is blocked unless you're an administrator or executive.
5. Per-request cap — a request can't exceed the leave type's maximum days per request, if one is set.
6. Overlap — you can't overlap an existing PENDING or APPROVED leave. This prevents double-booking.
7. Locked / blackout dates — dates your organization has locked can't be booked unless you can override them (executives).
8. Balance — you must have enough remaining balance in the relevant bucket for the requested days.

See Troubleshooting for the exact error message, cause, and fix for each rule.

What the modal footer tells you

Before you submit, the modal footer summarizes the cost of the request — for example "Takes 3 days from annual leave allowance" — alongside a Paid or Unpaid pill reflecting the leave type. Use this to confirm the deduction before committing.

After you submit

• If the request requires approval, it enters the queue as PENDING and the appropriate approvers are notified by email and in-app.
• If it qualifies for auto-approval, it's granted immediately as APPROVED.
• Either way the team calendar is updated to reflect the change.

To change or withdraw a request after submitting, see Editing and cancelling.