How to approve holiday and absence requests

What is it for?

An absence waiting for approval does not yet count as decided. Approving confirms it; refusing closes the request with no effect. Some absence types require two approvals: the second is called Validate.

When to use it?

• There are requests in the To Approve state and the month is ending.
• The proof for an absence that was waiting for it has arrived.
• A request was refused by mistake and must be decided again.

Where to find it?

People › Leave and absences › Absence requests, with To Approve chosen in the STATUS panel on the left. Management decides annual holidays in Management › Approve › Absence requests (see “Before you start”).

Before you start

• Who decides what.
  • The HR manager decides all types and is the only one who goes through every step, up to Validate.
  • Management only decides Annual holidays: in Management › Approve › Absence requests, the list and the request in To Approve have Approve and Refuse. If the request moves to Second Approval, only Refuse is left: Validate belongs to the HR manager. It does not have the Leave and absences menu in People.
  • The other absences (Blood donation, Marriage, sickness…) are decided by the HR manager. Management sees them in the same list, without Approve or Refuse, and not even when opened do they have those buttons. Blood donation appears to it only with the type Absence.
  • The Payroll profile sees the requests in People, but without Approve or Refuse, just like the Worker.
• Annual holidays that the HR manager records are approved as soon as they are saved: they appear in Absence requests already in the Approved state, and also in the Holiday map. Requests the employee makes in My space arrive in To Approve, and that is where the other types needing approval also appear, such as Blood donation.

How to use it

1. Open People › Leave and absences › Absence requests.
2. In the STATUS panel, click To Approve. The list shows only the requests still to be decided; each Annual holidays request has the Approve and Refuse buttons on its line (on a Blood donation line, only the HR manager profile has them).
3. Open the request, for example Eva Cristina Rocha's Annual holidays, from 09/11/2026 to 20/11/2026 (10 days). Check the employee, the time off type and the dates.
4. If the type requires proof (for example Blood donation, which only the HR manager decides), confirm the document is attached. Without a document, the request shows at the top the warning “A document justifying this type of absence must be attached.”.
   • On the Portuguese law: communication, proof and effect tab, the Proof document field shows the attached file (in the example, declaracao-dadiva-de-sangue.pdf); Attach file adds another.
   • With the file attached, or with the date written in Proof delivered on, the Proof status becomes Delivered in time and the warning disappears from the request.
   • For Blood donation, the file is health data: only someone who also has the View medical absence profile can attach it. Without that profile, Attach file replies “Files cannot be attached to this absence. What happened: a file of this absence is health data (GDPR, art. 9) and colleagues and managers read the absence. How to fix it: ask the “View medical absence” profile to attach it (for the absence of a family member, that person also needs a profile that opens absences, such as “HR”).” In that case, write the date in Proof delivered on and ask someone with that profile for the file.
   • If there is neither a file nor a date, do not approve: ask for the document and leave the request in To Approve.
5. Click Approve.
6. If the state has moved to Second Approval, the type requires a second decision (the 10-day Annual holidays in the example and Blood donation require it): Validate, Back to approval and Refuse appear. Click Validate.
   • Management only has Refuse at this step: ask the HR manager to Validate.

To refuse, click Refuse at step 5 or 6. fiscaldoo does not ask for the reason; if you want to leave it written on the request, use Log note, below the form.

Expected result

• The state becomes Approved. In the Blood donation example, after Approve and Validate with the HR manager, only the Back to approval button remains.
• The history, at the bottom of the request, records “To Approve → Second Approval (Status)”, “Second Approval → Approved (Status)” and “Your Blood donation request planned on 05/11/2026 09:00 has been accepted”.
• A refused request stays Refused. Back to approval puts it back in To Approve, with Approve and Refuse.
• Holidays approved on saving open in the Holiday map and have the Back to approval and Refuse buttons, to undo them if needed.

Important notes

• The Proof field is not the document. Proof and Proof asked on stay at None asked even with the file attached; what changes is the Proof status. Before approving, read the Proof document and the Proof status.
• Employees make their requests in My space. The request arrives in To Approve and carries the “Time Off Approval” activity assigned to Management (see How to request holidays or another absence). The approver opens the request and uses Approve or Refuse, depending on the type (see “Before you start”).

Common problems

The request does not appear in To Approve

• Symptom: you recorded an absence and it is not in the filtered list.
• Cause: the request was Approved on saving, and its history says “The time off has been automatically approved”. This is the case for Annual holidays recorded by the HR manager.
• What to do: in the STATUS panel, click Approved (or All) and type the employee's name in the search. Holidays can also be seen in People › Leave and absences › Holiday map; in the example, Hugo Miguel Santos, from 16/11/2026 to 27/11/2026, appears in both lists.

“Validation Error” appears when clicking Approve

• Symptom: Approve opens a window and the request stays in To Approve. Example seen, with a one-day request: “The holidays of Eva Cristina Rocha from 27/10/2026 to 27/10/2026 have 1.0 working days, fewer than the 10.0 consecutive days of one period (CT art. 241.º/8 (interpolated leave: at least 10 consecutive working days)). What happened: shorter periods are an interpolation and need the agreement of the employer and the worker (art. 241.º/8). How to fix it: tick “Interpolated, agreed in writing” when the agreement exists, or extend the period.”.
• Cause: it is an Annual holidays request with fewer than 10 consecutive working days, which needs the written agreement.
• What to do: on the request, tick Interpolated, agreed in writing, in the Portuguese law section, when the agreement exists; if it does not, send the request back so the period is extended. See also I cannot approve, refuse or move the absence forward. Pending validation by a certified accountant: the rule in art. 241.º/8 of the Labour Code (Código do Trabalho) that the screen quotes.