# Approve time off requests

See who approves which request, find the requests waiting for you, approve, validate or refuse them, and put an approved request back to approval when it was a mistake.

A request reaches the people its type names, in one or two steps. This page shows who they are, where the requests wait and what each button does. Allocations are approved the same way: [Allocate time off](allocate-time-off).

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- The **Management** menu needs at least the **Time Off Responsible** access right. Nobody has to give it by hand: a user set as the time off approver of an employee receives it, and loses it once he approves nobody.
- **Officer: Manage all requests** approves everyone's requests: [Create a user and set access rights](/docs/general-settings/create-a-user-and-set-access-rights).

## Who approves what {#who-approves}

The **Approval** of the type, in its **Time Off Requests** group, decides:

| Approval | What happens |
|---|---|
| **None needed** | The request is approved as soon as it is submitted, with a note in its chatter |
| **By Time Off Officer** | Any holder of the officer right approves it; the users named under **Notify HR** on the type get the activity |
| **By Employee's Approver** | The employee's time off approver approves it, or an officer |
| **By Employee's Approver and Time Off Officer** | Two steps: the approver first, then an officer |

The employee's approver is the user in **Time Off**, under **Approvers** on the **Settings** tab of the employee's record ([How employee records work](/docs/employees/how-employee-records-work)). It follows the user of the employee's manager until someone changes it. When it is empty, the approval activity goes to the manager's user, or else to the users under **Notify HR**, and only an officer can approve.

![The Time Off approver of the employee, in the Approvers group of the Settings tab.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14228-6f02cb78/time-off-approve-time-off-requests-approver_field-en.png)

## Find what waits for you {#waiting}

Open **Time Off/Management/Time Off**. It opens on **Waiting For Me**: for an approver, the requests of his employees; for an officer, every request waiting for a decision, his own included once the next step is the officer's.

![Management opens on the requests waiting for you.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14242-7bab5ee0/time-off-approve-time-off-requests-waiting_for_me-en.png)

On a phone, the filter sits behind the search button at the top.

The left panel narrows by **Status** and department; the filters add **First Approval**, **Second Approval**, **My Team** and **My Department**. Each waiting request also puts an approval activity in your activities: [Activities](/docs/activities).

## Approve or validate {#approve}

1. Switch to the list and open the request. Beside it, the form shows the employee's year and the approval activity.

![The request with its status, the employee's time off of the year on the right and the approval activity in the chatter.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14251-3ceb4cc0/time-off-approve-time-off-requests-request_form-en.png)

2. Open **Actions**. **Approve** shows while a first approval is still possible, **Validate** otherwise. On a two-step request, **Approve** gives the employee's approver only the first approval, but gives an officer the final one.

![Validate and Refuse in the Actions menu of the request.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14268-4c4f344a/time-off-approve-time-off-requests-validate_menu-en.png)

3. Choose it. The request is **Approved**, and its chatter tells the employee.

![The request is Approved and the employee is told in the chatter.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14274-215cecef/time-off-approve-time-off-requests-request_approved-en.png)

An officer gives the final approval at once, even on a two-step type. An approver without the officer right only gives the first one, and the request waits under **Second Approval** until an officer validates it.

Cards and list lines carry the same buttons; tick several lines to decide on them together.

## Refuse {#refuse}

**Refuse**, on the card, the line or in **Actions**, sets the request to **Refused**. The employee is told in the chatter, the days return to his balance and his calendar event is removed; an approver who had already approved receives a message too. An officer can still validate a refused request later.

## Undo an approval {#back-to-approval}

An officer who approved by mistake chooses **Back to Approval** in **Actions**: the request returns to **To Approve**, its calendar event and its blocked working time are removed, and its days stay set aside until a new decision.

## FAQ {#faq}

### Why does a request I approved still wait? {#still-waiting}

Its type needs two approvals and you gave the first as the employee's approver. An officer must now validate it under **Second Approval**.

### Is the employee told by email? {#email}

The approval and the refusal are posted in the chatter of the request with the employee as recipient, so he receives them by email or in the app, as his own notification preference says: [Set your preferences](/docs/essentials/set-your-preferences).

### Who gets the activity when nobody is named? {#nobody}

When the employee has no approver, no manager with a user and the type names nobody under **Notify HR**, no activity is created: the request still shows in **Waiting For Me** of the officers.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/time-off/approve-time-off-requests
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Version: Time Off 19.0.1.6
- Verified: 2026-10-28