What this guide covers
Submitting and managing your own leave on the My Leave page: applying for any leave type, attaching a medical or supporting document, what happens when your balance is short, fixing a date after the fact, cancelling, and returning early. If you manage people, the matching guide is Manage your team's leave. For the meaning of every status badge (PENDING, APPROVED, EDIT_PENDING, CANCEL_PENDING and so on) see Leave request statuses field definitions.
Where to find it
Open the My Leave card in the My stuff section of the Dashboard's My Day tab. The page is titled Leave Management and lands on the Apply for Leave tab. The other tabs are My Balances, My Leave History and, for managers, Pending Approvals. The page tour is My Leave.
If you see a banner saying "Your HR profile has not been set up. Please contact HR.", the form will not appear until HR creates your profile, sets your leave plan and assigns your department.
Step 1: pick the leave type
Choose from the Leave Type dropdown. The page reacts as soon as you pick:
- A balance card shows your Available days and what is already reserved by pending or approved requests.
- A certificate panel appears if the type needs a supporting document (sick leave, IOD, parental and similar).
- For unlimited types you see a green "Unlimited — no balance restriction applies." card instead of a balance.
The list of types and their entitlements is configured by HR, and some types only appear for the gender they apply to (maternity, paternity). Typical types are Annual, Sick, Family Responsibility, Parental, Study, IOD and Unpaid. Your own entitlement, monthly rate and balance for each are on the My Balances tab, so read your numbers there rather than from memory.
Step 2: choose how long
Under the second block, also labelled Leave Type, pick one of:
- Days — full working days. You then enter Duration (days) and a Return to Work Date.
- Morning Half Day (4h) — the first half of the shift.
- Afternoon Half Day (4h) — the second half of the shift.
- Custom Hours — enter hours and minutes, then choose Morning (start of shift) or Afternoon (end of shift). Hours convert to a fraction of a day based on your daily working hours.
A half day counts as 0.5 days against your balance.
Step 3: pick the dates
Use the Start Date picker. For Days, also fill in the Return to Work Date: the day you are back at work, not the last day of leave. The page then shows a date summary with three counts: Working Day(s) (what is deducted), Weekend / Rest Day(s) and Public Holiday(s) (not counted, listed by name). Weekends and public holidays are skipped for you.
If the dates clash with a request you already have, an orange panel lists the overlapping request. Use Cancel existing and submit new to replace it, or change your dates.
Step 4: approving manager (managers only)
If you manage people, an Approving Manager (Optional) dropdown appears. Leave it on -- Auto-Select -- and the system routes your request to your own line manager. You can instead pick any manager above you in the hierarchy who is not on leave during your dates; managers below you are never offered. If the page says "No managers are available during these dates.", choose different dates or contact HR.
Step 5: reason (optional)
The Reason box is optional, but a short reason helps your manager decide without chasing you.
Step 6: attach a document when required
If the type needs a document, the certificate panel tells you so. Two paths:
- Upload Certificate Now (optional) — attach a PDF, JPG or PNG. Its name shows as "ready to attach on submit".
- Acknowledge and upload later — tick "I acknowledge that I will provide the required document (if not uploaded above)". The request goes through, and the row in My Leave History carries a Certificate REQUIRED tag with an upload button. After the leave end date the tag turns to Certificate OVERDUE, an "Outstanding Medical Certificate(s)" panel appears at the top of that tab, and HR is chased.
For types that do not require a document you still get an optional Attach Document panel for flight bookings, appointment letters and so on.
Sick leave certificates
The rule the page applies is the BCEA one (section 23): a medical certificate is required for sick leave of three or more consecutive days, or from your third sick episode within eight weeks. HR is notified whether you attach it now or acknowledge it for later. Company policy may ask for a certificate in other cases; if HR asks, upload it from My Leave History. Sick leave that stays uncertified when one was required can be recorded as unpaid.
Step 7: submit
Click Submit Request.
If your balance is short
When you ask for more than your projected balance, an Insufficient Leave Balance panel appears with the number of days you are short and how the shortfall will be handled:
- If both options are open to you, choose Annual Leave — draw the shortfall from my Annual balance or Unpaid Leave — record the shortfall as unpaid. If your Annual balance is also short, the remainder becomes Unpaid.
- If only one option applies, the panel tells you which.
- Some types are recorded the moment you submit (see below); for those the shortfall is always recorded as Unpaid Leave.
Click Confirm & Submit to go ahead, or Go Back to shorten the request. When a request is converted, the approval card your manager sees carries a Converted chip showing what you applied for and what it became.
After you submit
- The request appears in My Leave History as PENDING, with the approving manager in the Manager column.
- It goes to that one approver. If they do not act within two of their working days, it escalates to the next manager up automatically; HR and admins can see it at any time. If nobody in your hierarchy is a manager at all, the request is auto-approved with the comment "Auto-approved: no manager assigned in department hierarchy."
- The badge changes to APPROVED or REJECTED and the manager's comment appears in the Comment column. A rejection always has a comment.
- Some leave types, sick leave for example, are recorded the moment you submit. Your manager only acknowledges them; there is nothing to approve or reject.
Editing a request
Click Edit on the row in My Leave History.
- PENDING — the original is cancelled and a new request with your changes is submitted.
- APPROVED — an EDIT_PENDING request is created and linked to the original, which stays approved until the edit is decided. If the edit is approved, the original days are refunded and the new days deducted; if it is rejected, the original stays as it was.
Do not plan to edit a request on the day it starts. Your approver needs time to act.
Cancelling a request
Click Cancel on the row.
- PENDING — takes effect immediately; the request becomes CANCELLED and nothing was deducted.
- APPROVED — the request goes to CANCEL_PENDING and your approver decides. The leave stays in effect until the cancellation is approved; on approval your balance is refunded.
Returning early
If you come back sooner than planned, open the approved request from My Leave History and choose Return Early. Enter the actual return date and click Confirm Return. The leave is trimmed, unused days are refunded and attendance is corrected. You cannot return early before the leave starts; cancel it instead.
The My Balances tab
One row per leave type: Leave Type, Entitlement (earned), Monthly Rate, Balance and Taken. The Balance cell also shows what is Pending and your Projected balance once pending requests are approved, and flags types that are Unpaid or need a certificate.
Coming in via a notification
Notification links carry the request id and open My Leave with that request's dialog already showing. Managers get the same link into the approvals inbox.
Good to know
- Available already excludes days reserved by pending or approved requests, so you cannot double-book.
- You cannot be on two kinds of leave at once. If you fall sick during annual leave, speak to HR with a medical certificate.
- One-off changes to your working hours, overtime and assigned shifts are not leave. They live on the Custom Schedules tab of My Schedule.