# Approving time off requests - URL: https://www.usewisecost.com/help/timesheet-approvals/approving-time-off-requests - Audience: Admins and approvers - Last updated: 2026-10-13 - Part of the WiseCost Help Center: https://www.usewisecost.com/help > Approve, reject or cancel time off requests from Time Off Requests in WiseCost. Approving a request also settles every timesheet that is entirely time off. Time off requests are reviewed in WiseCost under **Time Off Requests** in the main menu, below **Time Sheets**. Open a request to see its days, then click **Approve** or **Reject**. Approving a request also submits and approves every timesheet whose whole period is that time off, so nobody has to review those timesheets one by one. **Who can do this:** Administrators, for everyone, and Supervisors, for the employees they approve. ## Review a request 1. Click **Time Off Requests** in the main menu. The subtitle tells you how many requests are pending review. 2. Use **All statuses** and **All employees** to narrow the list. 3. Find the request. Each row shows the employee, the account (such as "PTO"), the dates, the days and hours, and the status. 4. Click the arrow at the start of the row to see the request day by day, as it is on the timesheets now. The detail also says who certified the request and when. 5. Click **Approve** or **Reject**. When rejecting, you can add a reason. It is recorded in the Audit Trail. [Screenshot: Time Off Requests list with the employee, account, dates and actions for each request] When someone entered the request for the employee, "Requested by" and their name appear under the employee. A cancelled request is greyed out and has no actions. The page also shows the **Company Holidays** calendar, and a link to the Time Tracking settings, where administrators manage which accounts record time off and the calendar. ## What approving does - **A period that is entirely time off** is submitted on the certification the employee gave with the request, and approved with it. The employee has nothing to send. The history shows it as submitted and approved through the request. - **A period that is only partly time off** stays open. The employee logs the rest and sends it, and you review it like any timesheet. The time off on it is already approved. - **Work in the middle of the range** keeps that timesheet open, and WiseCost says why. When the person sending a request is allowed to approve it, for example an admin or an approver requesting for themselves, it is approved when it is created and shows as approved straight away. ## What rejecting does The hours the request put on the timesheets are removed. Timesheets that were already approved are not changed. ## Cancel or shorten an approved request The employee, their approver or backup approver, and Administrators can cancel a request. 1. In **Time Off Requests**, click **Cancel** on the request. 2. Pick **Cancel from**. The first day cancels the whole request. A later day shortens it to the working day before, keeps its status and shows the range in force with "Shortened · originally to" under it. 3. Confirm **Cancel time off**. Entries from that day on are removed, and WiseCost confirms how many. A submitted timesheet goes back to draft, and an approved one is reopened with a note in its history. The employee's approver and backup are told which timesheets were reopened and why, and the employee gets the usual reopened notice unless they cancelled it themselves. If the period has already closed or payroll was imported, WiseCost warns you to check payroll. It is a prompt to verify, not a confirmed fact. Timesheets that are **Locked** by Labor Distribution are never touched. Use [Reopening a payroll period or timesheet](https://www.usewisecost.com/help/timesheet-approvals/reopening-a-closed-period) for those. ## What you see on timesheets The Time Sheets list, the timesheet detail and the employee's Timesheet Summary show a chip for time off: - **100% leave** while a whole-period timesheet waits for review. - **32h leave · approved** or **32h leave · pending** when part of the period is time off from a request. - **32h leave** for leave logged without a request. In the detail, time off and holiday rows are tinted and labelled. ## Good to know - **Someone who entered the time off cannot approve it.** If you requested time off for an employee, another approver or an administrator approves it, and the row says **Needs another approver**. See [I cannot approve a timesheet](https://www.usewisecost.com/help/troubleshooting/cannot-approve-a-timesheet). - **Requests entered for someone else** need a reason, like any [delegated entry](https://www.usewisecost.com/help/time-tracking/entering-time-for-a-team-member). - **A request's entries are locked while it is Pending or Approved.** Nobody edits them on the timesheet. The employee cancels or shortens the request instead. - **A period that has not started is not distributed.** Labor Distribution only runs on periods whose start date has passed, even when time off is approved months ahead. ## Common questions ### Why is a timesheet with approved time off still open? Only a period that is entirely time off is settled by the request. If the employee has work on it, or the request covers only some days of the period, the employee completes it and sends it. ### A supervisor cannot see a request. Why? Supervisors see only the employees who name them as approver. See [Approvers and supervisors](https://www.usewisecost.com/help/timesheet-approvals/approvers-and-supervisors).