How to Approve a Leave Withdrawal Request (Manager)

Approving a Leave Withdrawal

If a staff member tries to cancel approved leave (e.g. their plans changed), they file a withdrawal request rather than just deleting the leave. It lands in your queue with a WITHDRAWAL_PENDING status.

You decide whether to free up the dates or keep the leave in place.

Where to find it

• Leave Planner → Pending Requests (look for WITHDRAWAL_PENDING status badge)
• Or click the in-app notification when it lands

Step-by-step

1. Open the withdrawal request.
2. Review:
   • Original leave dates and type
   • Withdrawal reason (free text from the requester)
   • Coverage Impact — what happens if the dates are freed back up
3. Decide:
   • Approve withdrawal — the leave is cancelled, the dates are freed back to the available pool, and any roster cells that were blocked become assignable again
   • Reject withdrawal — the leave stays in place; the staff member is notified with your reason

When to reject a withdrawal

• The cancellation creates a worse coverage problem than the leave did (e.g. you've already filled the gap and freeing the dates would mean unwinding swaps)
• The withdrawal is too close to the leave start to absorb cleanly
• The staff member is trying to game the system (frequent cancellations destabilise rosters)

What happens after approval — shift-action choice

When you click Approve Withdrawal, a modal loads a preview of any roster shifts that were unassigned when the original leave was approved. If affected shifts are found, you must choose one of two options:

• Keep as open shifts (recommended) — the previously cancelled shift rows are freed (deleted) so any staff can claim them or you can re-assign manually. Any open vacancies that were posted as backfill stay advertised.
• Restore to original staff — the original staff member's shifts are put back onto their roster row, and any unfilled open vacancies posted as backfill are deleted.

If the leave never cancelled any shifts (e.g. leave was approved before the roster was built), the modal skips straight to a simple "Approve Withdrawal?" confirm.

• Leave block disappears from the Living Roster on those dates.
• The staff member gets a confirmation notification.

Tips & common mistakes

• Approving a withdrawal is not free. If you've already booked agency or shuffled the roster, undoing it has cost.
• Reject reasons go to staff. "We've already filled your shifts and unwinding it now would mean losing the cover" beats "no".
• For repeat cancellers, talk to the staff member first. The system will let you reject every time, but the conversation matters.