Track requests from submission to resolution
Every leave request in Officaid has a status that tells you where it stands in the approval process. Understanding these statuses helps you know which requests need action, which have been processed, and which were withdrawn by the employee.
The Four Statuses
Leave requests move through one of four statuses:
- Pending indicates the request is waiting for approval or rejection.
- Approved means the request was accepted and the leave is confirmed.
- Rejected means the request was declined.
- Cancelled indicates the employee withdrew their request before it was processed.
Pending
When an employee submits a leave request, it enters Pending status. The request appears in the Pending Approvals section on the Overview tab, waiting for someone with the appropriate permissions to review it.
Pending requests require action. You can open the request details and choose to approve or reject.
Approved
When a leave request is approved, the status changes to Approved and the employee's leave balance is updated. The leave is now confirmed and will appear on the Leave Calendar for the dates requested.
Both the employee and their reporting officer receive a notification when leave is approved.
Rejected
If a leave request is declined, the status changes to Rejected. The employee's leave balance remains unchanged since the leave was not granted.
When rejecting a request, you have the option to add comments explaining the reason. This helps the employee understand why their request was not approved and whether they should resubmit for different dates.
Cancelled
Employees can cancel their own leave requests through Me → My Leaves, but only while the request is still in Pending status. Once they cancel, the status changes to Cancelled and the request no longer requires any action.
Cancelled requests remain visible in the system for record-keeping purposes. They appear in the All Leaves tab and can be filtered using the Status dropdown.
Status Flow
Here is how requests typically move between statuses:
- Employee submits request → Pending
- Manager approves → Approved
- Manager rejects → Rejected
- Employee cancels (while pending) → Cancelled
Requests only move forward through the workflow. A rejected request cannot become approved, and an approved request cannot become rejected.
Status Colors
Each status displays as a colored badge for quick visual identification:
- Pending appears in yellow/orange, signaling that action is needed.
- Approved appears in green, indicating the request was successful.
- Rejected appears in red, showing the request was declined.
- Cancelled appears in grey, indicating the request was withdrawn.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Once rejected, the status is final. If the situation has changed, ask the employee to submit a new leave request which can then be approved.
Once leave is approved, balances have been adjusted and the leave is considered confirmed. Allowing cancellation of approved leave would create accounting complications. For changes to approved leave, coordinate directly with the employee.
No. Since cancelled requests were never approved, no balance adjustment occurs. The employee's entitlement remains as it was before they submitted the request.
What's Next?
Learn more about managing leave requests:
- Approving and Rejecting Leave Requests walks through the approval process.
- Viewing All Leaves shows how to filter by status and other criteria.
- Navigating the Leaves Overview explains where to find pending requests.