From the Payroll screen, select the Options menu, Leave Requests, and then Leave Request Approvals.
Note: An alert will appear on the Payroll screen under the Alerts section if there are leave requests pending your approval; if applicable, click the alert to access the Leave Request Approvals option and then continue with the steps below. The Leave Requests submenu is only available to organizations that have licensed the Web Link module.
The Leave Request Approvals screen will appear.
In the Approval Type field, enter the type of approvals (Regular Approvals or Override Approvals) to view and process, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one, if applicable. To view the leave requests currently awaiting approval from you (the user logged into the system), enter Regular Approvals. To view the leave requests awaiting approval from others for which you are designated as an override approver (as defined in the Override Approver ID field for approval paths), enter Override Approvals. The approval type of Override Approvals is only available to users designated as an override approver. The default of Regular Approvals will appear, but can be changed if applicable.
Note: The leave requests that display for Regular Approvals or Override Approvals include only those which are currently at your sequence on the approval path or the user's sequence being overridden (if applicable); the leave requests that are awaiting approvals from other users for other sequences prior to yours or the user's being overridden (if applicable) will not appear unless the Approve Leaves Out of Sequence field is selected (see below).
If the Allow Approvals Out of Sequence field in the Leave Request Options option is selected, the Approve Leaves Out of Sequence field is enabled. If applicable, select the Approve Leaves Out of Sequence field to display all leave requests pending approval from you (or the user being overridden, if applicable), including those that are currently awaiting approval from other users first for other sequences on the approval paths. A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected.
Tip: Select the Approve Leaves Out of Sequence field if you will soon be gone for a period of time and would like to approve leave requests that will be moving through the approval process and needing your approval before your return.
If Override Approvals is selected as the Approval Type, the User ID field is enabled. Enter the ID of the user for which to override the approvals for the leave requests that are pending that user's approval in the User ID field, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct user. Only the users for which you are an override approver that have leave requests pending their approval can be entered here.
All the applicable leave requests pending approval display in the Pending Leave Requests List and also on the calendar at the bottom of the screen. The FMLA leave requests will appear with the other leave requests, but there will be a checkmark in the FMLA Leave column in the Pending Leave Requests List and FMLA included as the description in the calendar. The applicable leave requests displayed in the Pending Leave Requests List include those which are currently at your sequence on the approval path (or the user's sequence being overridden, if applicable), or else all leave requests pending approval for any sequence from you (or the user being overridden, if applicable) if the Approve Leaves Out of Sequence field is selected. By default, the Approval Path Employees button is selected on the calendar to display not only the leave requests listed in the Pending Leave Requests List, but also all the fully approved leave requests and pending leave requests for the employees and leaves for which you have rights to approve. If desired, click the All Employees button to display all the leave requests for all employees and all leaves, including those you do not have rights to approve. The leave requests (and FMLA leave requests, if applicable) for the specified number of past years and forward as designated in the Leave Request Options display on the calendar.
Note: Fully approved leave requests (and FMLA leave requests, if applicable) appear on the calendar in solid blue, while the pending leave requests appear in blue hashed lines. Unsubmitted, rejected, recalled, and cancelled leave requests do not show on the calendar. The events added within the Manage Calendar option display using their designated colors.
Tip: The calendar automatically displays for the Start Date of the leave request selected (highlighted) in the Pending Leave Requests List. Click once on a leave request in the Pending Leave Requests List to display the calendar for that Start Date. If desired, use the month thumbnails located to the right of the calendar to toggle to different months, and then select a date within a desired month to display in the calendar or click the Today button to view today's date in the calendar. To change how the calendar is viewed (by month, week, or day), click the Month, Week, or Day tab located in the top left corner of the calendar; by default, the Month tab is selected. If desired, click the Print Calendar button to print the calendar.
Complete the approval process for the desired leave requests:
To process one leave request at a time, along with viewing the details included on a leave request and/or making changes to a leave request (if needed) prior to completing the approval process, do the following:
Click the Edit Record button located to the right of the desired leave request in the Pending Leave Requests List.
Tip: If desired, to also view the details for a leave request, double-click on the item within the calendar. If the selected leave request is one pending your approval (also appears in the Pending Leave Requests List at the top of the screen), continue completing the approval process following the steps below; otherwise, if it is a leave request that is not pending your approval (does not appear in the Pending Leave Requests List), the inquiry screen will appear instead and then only the options for completing a leave request inquiry will be available (refer to the steps for completing a leave request inquiry).
The details for the selected leave request will then display in the Leave Request Approval Detail screen (or Leave Request Approval Detail - FMLA screen, if applicable).
Note: The Leave Balances for the leave (and main leave, if applicable) for the employee appear below the Number of Leave Units to Use field. The balances will only display if the dates for the leave request are within a fiscal year currently set up for the leave for the employee. The Current Posted Balance reflects the total units of leave available after taking into account all posted entries. The Unposted or Approved Entries reflects the total of all absence entries (including approved leave request entries) in unposted batches of Employee Absences, Pay Period Entries, and Time Cards, and approved leave request entries not yet brought into a batch. The Pending Approval Entries reflects the total of all the leave request entries that have been submitted but not yet approved. The Unsubmitted Entries reflects the total of all the leave request entries that have not yet been submitted (and leave requests that have been rejected or recalled and not yet cancelled or deleted). The Total Balance reflects the Current Posted Balance, less the Unposted or Approved Entries, less the Pending Approval Entries, less the Unsubmitted Entries. If the Total Balance is negative, a warning icon will appear to the right of the field.
In the Substitutes List (located in the lower right-hand side of the screen), enter the substitute information for who will work during the employee's absence, if desired. To enter a substitute, complete the following:
In the blank line (indicated with an asterisk) at the bottom of the Substitutes List, enter the ID of the employee in the Employee ID field, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one.
Enter the starting date for when the substitute will work in the Start Date field. Use the mm/dd/yyyy format or click the down-arrow button to select the desired date. The Start Date of the leave request will appear as the default, but can be changed if needed.
Enter the ending date for when the substitute will work in the End Date field. Use the mm/dd/yyyy format or click the down-arrow button to select the desired date. The End Date of the leave request will appear as the default (if applicable), but can be changed if needed.
Note: If the date entered in this field is more than 30 days from the date entered in the Start Date field, a warning icon will appear to the right of the Start Date and End Date fields; verify the dates entered are correct.
If desired, enter the number of units the substitute will work (and be paid) in the Units field. The number can be up to 14 digits long (including the decimal point) and will be rounded to 4 decimal places by the system if capable.
If desired, enter the ID of the pay code for which to pay the substitute in the Pay Code ID field, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one.
If desired, enter a comment for the substitute in the Comment field. The comment can be up to 1,000 characters long.
Click the Save button.
Repeat these steps if additional substitutes need to be entered for the leave request.
Note: To remove a substitute, click the Delete button located to the left of the desired record; when prompted to delete the line, click Yes.
If necessary, edit the Substitute Needed field for the entry. In the Substitute Needed field, enter the correct response (Yes or No) for whether or not a substitute is needed in the employee's absence, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one.
Note: The Substitute Needed field is always enabled and able to be changed, even if the Allow Approver Edit field is not selected within the Leave Request Options option.
In the Comments List (located in the upper right-hand side of the screen), enter a comment to track for approving or rejecting a leave request in the Comments field, if desired. The comment can be up to 1,000 characters long. The system will automatically display the ID of the current user in the User ID field and the date the comment was entered (or updated) in the Date Updated field; the information in these two fields cannot be changed.
Note: If a change is made to the Substitute Needed field, the substitute information previously entered, or any other field (applicable only if the system is set up to be able to make changes during the approval process), a comment will automatically be added in the Comments field stating the fields that were changed.
Tip: Only one comment per user can be added for each leave request (not including the automatically generated comment for submitting a leave request on another employee's behalf); so if you previously entered a comment, the previous comment will appear, but can be changed.
If the system is set up to be able to make changes during the approval process (the Allow Approver Edit field is selected within the Leave Request Options option), the other applicable fields can be changed or completed for a leave request at this time. To make a change, click in the appropriate field, and then key the correct information or click the down-arrow button to select the correct item (if applicable).
Note: Even if the system is set up to be able to make changes during the approval process, the Employee ID and Leave ID fields cannot be changed for regular leave requests, and the Employee ID and FMLA Reason fields cannot be changed for FMLA leave requests.
Tip: If additional fields are defined to display, any field set up as required must be completed for the leave request if changes are made to those fields.
To approve a leave request, click the Approve button; or if there are multiple sequences for you (or the user being overridden, if applicable) to approve for the leave request, click the Approve All Sequences button to approve all the sequences at this time. The Approve All Sequences button is only enabled if the Allow Approvals Out of Sequence field in the Leave Request Options option is selected, and there are multiple sequences for you (or the user being overridden, if applicable) to approve for the selected leave request.
Note: If the leave for the entry has a negative balance (or the main leave has a negative balance, if applicable) and the Warn if Negative Balance field is selected in the Leave File for the leave, a message will appear prompting to save the entry; click Yes to save and approve the entry with the negative balance, or click No to not save and approve the entry in order to make changes. If the leave request for the employee matches another entry that was previously saved and/or posted for that particular leave with the specified start date, a message will appear prompting to save the entry; click Yes to save the entry or click No to not save the entry in order to make changes.
To reject a leave request, click the Reject button.
If needed, click the Save button to save any changes that were made and not actually approve or reject the leave request at this time; then click the X in the upper right-hand corner to return to the Leave Request Approvals screen.
Note: If the leave for the entry has a negative balance (or the main leave has a negative balance, if applicable) and the Warn if Negative Balance field is selected in the Leave File for the leave, a message will appear prompting to save the entry; click Yes to save the entry with the negative balance or click No to not save the entry in order to make changes. If the leave request for the employee matches another entry that was previously saved and/or posted for that particular leave with the specified start date, a message will appear prompting to save the entry; click Yes to save the entry or click No to not save the entry in order to make changes.
To process multiple leave requests at a time, without viewing the details included on a leave request and/or without making changes to a leave request prior to completing the approval process, do the following:
To approve a leave request, select the Approve field to the left of the desired leave request in the Pending Leave Requests List. A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected.
To reject a leave request, select the Reject field to the left of the desired leave request in the Pending Leave Requests List. A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected.
To select all the leave requests listed on the screen for approval or rejection, click the box located by the appropriate column heading at the top of the screen (by the Approve or Reject column heading). A checkmark will appear in the box if the field is selected, and all the leave requests will have the particular field (Approve or Reject field) selected. If desired, change the filters to modify the leave requests displayed in the Pending Leave Requests List.
After all the desired leave requests have been selected to be approved or rejected, click the Save button.
Tip: If a leave request has a checkmark in the Has Warnings field (column) in the Pending Leave Requests List, complete the steps above to process one leave request at a time in order to see the details for the leave request; the warnings include the leave for the entry having a negative balance (or the main leave having a negative balance, if applicable) and/or the leave request matching another entry for the employee for the particular leave with the specified start date.
If designated to do so in the Email Manager option, notification emails will be sent at this time to the appropriate users with the next approval sequences as based on the approval paths for the leave request (or to the first approval sequence if the approval process needed to restart, if applicable), to the user who submitted the leave request if completely processed (received final approval or rejected), to the user(s) with rights to edit substitutes for leave requests that received final approval, and/or to the user who is designated to receive an email for leave requests (and FMLA leave requests, if applicable) that received final approval. If there were notification email messages that did not go through, a message will appear; click OK and then contact the Business Office in order to check the activity log file (System Log tab within the Activity Log option) and resolve the error(s). If an email is rejected, the rejection notice will be sent to the appropriate address for the designated email address in the Email Manager option.
Note: If approving leave requests out of the normal order of an approval path by using the Approve Leaves Out of Sequence field, the leave requests will still be pending for the other users with approval sequences preceding and following your sequence (or the user's being overridden, if applicable). If a leave request is rejected by one approver on the approval path, the leave request will not proceed to the next approval sequence on the approval path, and will instead be sent back to the submitter. If a change is made to a leave request (other than a change to the Substitute Needed field or the substitute information) and the Requires Restart of Approval field is selected in the Leave Request Options option, the leave request will be sent back to the first sequence on the approval path.
Repeat Step 7 to complete the approval process for all the desired leave requests; then click the X in the upper right-hand corner to close the Leave Request Approvals screen.