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Where to start it, which rules are enforced on submit, and what happens to your balance
Booking time off as the employee, not the admin - from the form to the balance change once the request is decided.
Start the request
Open My leave, either directly or under Time off if you also manage requests. On a phone, find it in Menu. Choose Request time off. Above the list, your balances and limits show what is left today. To check who is away first, open Team calendar in the main menu or Calendar in the phone's bottom bar.
Pick a type and dates
Choose a leave type; the picker appends the days you have left. Pick a start date - leaving the end date blank books that single day. On a single day a Duration control appears where the leave type allows more than one mode - Full day and Half day on a half-day increment, plus Custom hours on an hourly one. A longer range books whole days. Add context holds an optional Note to approver and an attachment - PDF, JPG or PNG up to 20 MB - visible only to you, admins, and your approvers.
What is enforced on submit
The form previews the working-day count and the Balance after approval; the leave type's rules are enforced on submit and returned as a list. For the default Vacation they are:
- No dates in the past - the first day is today or later.
- Half-day steps - a part day is a half day.
- Available balance - each leave year the request touches must still hold its days.
A type can also ask for notice, cap a request's length or require a name in the Cover /
replacement field; the form says so before you submit. A leave type you are in no policy
of doesn't appear in the picker and is refused with not_eligible through the API. New
hires join every Standard policy that adds them, so the default types are open from day one.
How your days get counted
Each day is checked against your work schedule and your holiday calendar: a leave type that counts working days, as the default Vacation does, charges neither your days off nor public holidays. See How leave works in SquadBear for the full model.
Who approves it, and what happens to your balance
Submitting counts the days as pending at once; the Balance after approval figure already shows it. Vacation goes through Simple manager approval, to the Manager field on your profile, not to the manager role. Your manager sees it in Inbox and on Time off → All requests. Approved days become used days; rejected ones are released. A pending request can be edited or cancelled; an edit restarts the approval chain. An approved one can be cancelled whole or from a date, leaving earlier days approved. A rejected request is final.
Sick leave
Sick leave is granted the instant you submit it - no manager step, your manager is notified - and the default one counts no balance. It requires no notice and no replacement, has no per-request maximum, and accepts start dates in the past.
Worked example
Aleksandra takes the last week of July - Monday 27 to Friday 31, five working days, no holiday in the way. She opens My leave, picks Vacation and sets the dates. The form reads 5 working days and a positive balance after approval. Her manager sees it in Inbox that day and approves, turning the 5 pending days into used days.