# Leave Requests

How to ask for time off in Job Book: finding existing leave requests, filling in a new one with its leave type, dates, description and signature, and how a manager reviews it and approves or rejects it.

Source: https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request
Last updated: 2026-09-17

## Key Concepts

A leave request is the record an employee fills in to ask for time off. It carries the type of leave, the dates,
a description and a signature, and it goes to that employee's manager to be approved or rejected.

*   **Leave Type** is the kind of leave you are asking for. The list your company offers is set up by an
    Administrator as Labour Cost Items, so it is different at every company. See
    [Leave Request Initial Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-initial-setup) and
    [Administration Settings](https://getjobbook.com/help/Administration_Settings#labour-cost-items).
*   **Leave Job** is an internal company job used to track time off, and **Leave Manager** is the person who
    approves the request. Both are set on the employee's profile and are filled in for you on the form. See
    [Users and Employee Profiles](https://getjobbook.com/help/Users_and_Employee_Profiles).
*   **LR #** is the request number, such as 260905-001. It identifies the request on the list, on the record
    itself and in the [Leave Request Report](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-report).
*   A request is **Not Submitted** while it is still a draft. Ticking **Submitted** sends it to the Leave
    Manager, and the request then reads **Submitted** until the manager sets **Approval Status** to
    **Approved** or **Rejected**. Those four statuses are what the list cards and the report's **Status** column
    show.

## Performing Common Tasks

### Navigating Existing Leave Requests

On the dashboard, in the **Leave Requests** card, click **Explore**.

![The Leave Request list on the All view](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/leave-request-list.Bzyrbo8e.png)

*The saved views split the list into what is waiting on you as an approver and what you have asked for yourself.*

Up to seven saved views sit across the top of the list. The first four are the approver's views. An Administrator
sees all seven, a Manager sees **Awaiting My Approval** and the three views of their own requests, and a Technician
or a Job Coordinator sees only those three:

*   **Awaiting My Approval**: leave requests from your employees that have been submitted but not yet approved
    or rejected.
*   **Submitted**: all submitted leave requests, from every employee, that have not yet been approved or
    rejected.
*   **Rejected**: all rejected leave requests from every employee.
*   **All**: every leave request in the system, drafts included.

The last three are your own requests:

*   **My Requests (Not Submitted)**: your draft leave requests that have not yet been submitted.
*   **My Requests (Rejected)**: your leave requests that have been rejected by your manager. Once a request is
    rejected, it cannot be edited or resubmitted.
*   **All My Requests**: all of your leave requests.

The rest of the screen is the same on every view:

*   A search box reading "Type and press Enter to search", with a **Search** button beside it.
*   **Create** and **Export to Excel** below it. **My Requests (Rejected)** and **All My Requests** carry
    **Export to Excel** only: there is no **Create** button on those two views.
*   A record count above and below the cards, reading "Showing records 1 to 1 of 1". A view with nothing in it
    reads "No records to display" instead.
*   One card per request. The approver's views show **Employee:**, **Start Date:**, **Job #:**, **Leave Type:**
    and **LR #:**. On **All My Requests** the **Employee:** line is dropped, because every card is yours, and a
    **Status:** line is added.
*   A chevron at the right-hand end of a card. Click it to open the request.

Opening a request shows it read-only, on a page titled **Display**, with **Edit**, **Export to PDF**, **Delete**
and **Back** above and below the record. **Employee:**, **Job:** and **Leave Manager:** are links to those
records. An approver also sees the **Days off:** calendar, **Approval Status:**, **Notes:** and a
**Leave Request History** button; the employee who raised the request sees the same record without them.

To withdraw a request you have already submitted, open it and click **Delete**; there is no separate withdraw step.

### Creating a Leave Request

On the dashboard, in the **Leave Requests** card, click **Create New**. You can also click **Create** on the
list.

![Leave Request Form](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/leave-request-create.Bz6WRLss.png)

*Job and Leave Manager come from your profile, so most of the form is already done. Pick the leave type and the dates, sign, and save.*

Fill out the following fields. The ones with a red star beside the label are required.

*   **Employee**: opens filled in with you.
*   **Job**: the Leave Job from the employee's profile. When the profile carries one, the field is filled in for
    you and greyed out. When it does not, the field is an ordinary picker reading "Find a job...".
*   **Leave Manager**: the Leave Manager from the employee's profile, and it behaves the same way: filled in and
    greyed out when the profile carries one, and a picker reading "Find an employee..." when it does not.
*   **Leave Type**: a dropdown of the leave types your company has set up.
*   **Leave Period**: a pair of buttons, **Full Day(s)** and **Partial Day**. **Full Day(s)** is selected when
    the form opens.
*   **Start Date**: the date the leave starts.
*   **End Date**: the date the leave ends. Shown with **Full Day(s)** selected.
*   **Start Time**, **End Time** and **Hours**: shown instead of **End Date** with **Partial Day** selected.
    **Hours** is worked out for you from the two times.
*   **Description**: free text.
*   **Attachments**: click **Add** to attach files to the request.
*   **Signature**: click **Add My Signature** to apply the signature saved on your own employee profile, or
    **Collect Signature** to draw a new one.
*   **Submitted**: ticked by default. Leave it ticked and saving sends the request to your Leave Manager. Untick
    it to save the request as a draft and come back to it later.
*   **Submitted Date**: today's date, filled in for you and not editable.

Once you have filled out the form, click **Save**. **Cancel** leaves without saving.

### Reviewing a Leave Request

When an employee submits a leave request, their manager will be notified by email and can review it. Managers can
reach the requests awaiting their approval in three ways:

*   From the email notification link.
*   From the **Actions required** banner on the dashboard, which carries a line reading "1 Leave Request(s)
    awaiting my approval". See [Acting on "Actions required"](https://getjobbook.com/help/Dashboard#acting-on-actions-required).
*   By opening the **Awaiting My Approval** view in the leave request list.

Open the request and click **Edit**.

![Approving a Leave Request](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/leave-request-approve.BO62EVb8.png)

*A decision is one click on Approved or Rejected, a note if you want, and Save.*

These are the controls an approver works with on the edit view:

* **Select Days Off (i.e., excluding weekends & holidays):** a month calendar with the days of the request
    highlighted. It is not on the create form; it appears once the request has been saved, and the read-only
    **Display** page labels the same calendar **Days off:**.
* **Approval Status:** a pair of buttons, **Approved** and **Rejected**. It is not a dropdown; click one of
    the two.
* **Notes:** a box for anything you want to tell the employee.
* **Signature:** **View** shows the signature already on the request and **Delete** removes it.

> When a request spans several days, weekends are left out of the calendar for you (some sites are configured differently). Holidays are not. Before approving, click each holiday in the **Select Days Off (i.e., excluding weekends & holidays):** calendar to deselect it.

*   To approve a leave request, click **Approved** under **Approval Status** and click **Save**.
*   To reject one, click **Rejected**, add any notes for the employee, and click **Save**.
*   To send one back for changes, untick **Submitted** and click **Save**. The employee edits the request and
    resubmits it.

The employee gets an email whichever you choose.

Approving records the decision and puts the leave on the [Company Calendar](https://getjobbook.com/help/company-calendar); it writes no
time to the Leave Job. If leave hours are to appear on timesheets, a DWR against the Leave Job is entered by hand.

## Related Guides

- [Leave Tracking: Overview](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-tracking-overview)
- [Leave Request Initial Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-initial-setup)
- Leave Requests
- [Leave Request Report](https://getjobbook.com/help/leave-request-report)
- [Company Calendar](https://getjobbook.com/help/company-calendar)