--- title: "Absence Request Statuses: Pending, Approved, Rejected and Cancelled" description: "Reference for the four statuses of an absence request in Vitextra Absence & Coverage: what Pending approval, Approved, Rejected and Cancelled mean, what triggers each status, how it affects the balance, the Team Absence Calendar and substitutions, and where each status is visible." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10329 language: en published: 2026-10-28 modified: 2026-10-28 products: - "Absence & Coverage" author: "Vitālijs Kalniņš" tags: ["absence request status", "pending approval", "approved rejected cancelled absence", "leave request workflow SharePoint", "auto-approved absence", "absence status calendar", "My Absences status pill", "Vitextra Absence & Coverage"] --- # Absence Request Statuses: Pending, Approved, Rejected and Cancelled Reference for the four statuses of an absence request in Vitextra Absence & Coverage: what Pending approval, Approved, Rejected and Cancelled mean, what triggers each status, how it affects the balance, the Team Absence Calendar and substitutions, and where each status is visible. ## Overview Every absence request in Vitextra Absence & Coverage has exactly one status. The status is shown as a coloured pill next to the request in the **My Absences** web part and decides how the request counts: in your balance, in the Team Absence Calendar and for your substitute. This article explains the four statuses, what changes a status, and what each status means for the rest of the product. ![Requests with the four statuses in My Absences](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10329/status-pills-en.png) *The four statuses in the My requests list* --- ## The four statuses | Status | Pill text | Meaning | |:---|:---|:---| | Pending | **Pending approval** | The request is waiting for the decision of the approver | | Approved | **Approved** | The absence is confirmed. This is also the status of requests that need no approval | | Rejected | **Rejected** | The approver declined the request. The status is final | | Cancelled | **Cancelled** | The request was withdrawn by the employee. The status is final | --- ## What sets a status **At submission** the status depends on the absence type and the approver: - If the absence type does **not require approval** (by default Sick leave and Remote work), the request is saved as **Approved** at once. The panel tells you this in advance: *This absence type does not need approval: the request is approved immediately.* - If the type requires approval and the approver is **you** (for example, you have no manager and you are the fallback approver), the request is also **Approved** at once, with the message *The request was approved automatically.* - In all other cases the request is saved as **Pending approval** and you see *The request was sent for approval.* **After submission** only two things change a status: - The approver selects **Approve** or **Reject** in the **Approvals** tab. The employee then sees the pill change and the optional reply. - The employee selects **Cancel request** on a Pending or Approved request. 📝 **Note** The product does not send e-mail or Teams notifications. Employees see the new status when they open **My Absences**, and approvers see new requests in the **Approvals** tab, whose badge shows the number of pending requests. --- ## Transitions | From | To | Triggered by | |:---|:---|:---| | (new request) | Approved | Submission of a type without approval, or of a request that the employee approves themselves | | (new request) | Pending | Submission of a type that requires approval | | Pending | Approved | The approver selects **Approve** | | Pending | Rejected | The approver selects **Reject** (a comment is required) | | Pending | Cancelled | The employee selects **Cancel request** | | Approved | Cancelled | The employee selects **Cancel request** before the end date has passed | | Rejected, Cancelled | — | No further change in the web parts | There is no action that reopens a rejected or cancelled request. The employee submits a new request instead. An approved request cannot be turned into a rejected one in the web parts; it can only be cancelled by the employee. --- ## What each status means for the rest of the product | | Pending | Approved | Rejected | Cancelled | |:---|:---|:---|:---|:---| | **Balance card** | Counted as **pending**, already subtracted from the remaining days | Counted as **used** | Not counted | Not counted | | **Overlap check** for new requests | Blocks overlapping requests | Blocks overlapping requests | Ignored | Ignored | | **Team Absence Calendar** | Shown hatched, if pending requests are shown | Shown in the type colour | Never shown | Never shown | | **Away today** | Not listed | Listed | Not listed | Not listed | | **Substitute** named in the request | No substitution yet | A substitution is created and waits for the substitute's confirmation | Linked substitutions are cancelled | Linked substitutions are cancelled | | **Absences without a substitute** (Substitutions) | Not considered | Considered | Not considered | Not considered | | **.ics file** | Available | Available | Not offered | Not offered | For a request that was approved automatically, the substitution is created immediately after submission. --- ## Where you can see the status - **My Absences, My absences tab.** The pill next to every request of the selected year, including Rejected and Cancelled requests. - **My Absences, Approvals tab.** The approver sees only **Pending** requests that are assigned to them. - **Team Absence Calendar.** Only Pending and Approved absences. The toggle **Show requests pending approval** controls the hatched pending entries. See [KB10341. How to Read the Team Absence Calendar: Colors, Hatching and Marks](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10341). - **CSV export.** The **Status** column contains the raw values *Pending* or *Approved*, which are not translated. --- ## The reply comment When the approver decides, they can add a comment. For **Reject** the comment is required, for **Approve** it is optional. The employee sees it in the request row as **Reply: …**, for Approved and Rejected requests alike. The approver is also shown in the row as **Approver: …**. The approver of a request is fixed at the time of submission, so a later change of the manager does not move existing requests (see [KB10336. Who Approves Absence Requests: Manager, Fallback Approver and Self-Approval](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10336)). 💡 **Tip** If a request was rejected, read the reply, then submit a new request with other dates. To withdraw a request yourself, see [KB10330. How to Cancel an Absence Request](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10330).