# Requesting and approving time off

Ask for days off in the app, pick a category like Vacation or Sick, and follow your request. Managers approve or decline on the web or in the app.

For: Employees, Managers · On: iOS, Android, Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling) · Last updated October 22, 2026 · Mays Team

Need a day off? Send a time-off request from the app and your manager approves or declines it. Approved time off shows on the schedule so nobody books you by mistake — and while it's still waiting, your manager already sees it on the schedule as a **Pending time off** hint.

## Ask for time off (employees)

1. In the app, go to **Schedule → Time off**.
2. Tap **+**.
3. Pick the **Start** and **End** dates. Both days are included.
4. Pick a **Category** — **Vacation**, **Sick**, **Personal**, **Unpaid**, or one your company added.
5. Add a note if you like (**Optional reason** on iPhone, **Reason (optional)** on Android).
6. Tap **Submit**.

![The Request time off screen on iPhone with Start Oct 19, 2026, End Oct 21, 2026, Category Vacation, the note Family wedding, and the Cancel and Submit buttons](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__time-off-requests__01-request-time-off.b16f7cc033.png)

Your request shows **Pending** in the list. You'll get **Time off approved** or **Time off declined** when your manager decides, with the manager's note if they wrote one.

- Requests are for **whole days**. For part of a day, ask your manager — they can add it for you.
- If you have paid time off, your balances show at the top of the screen (for example *7.8h Vacation*). A paid request uses the hours you're scheduled for on those days; days that aren't on the schedule yet count as 8 hours on a weekday and nothing on a weekend. It comes off your balance when it's approved. If your company has a waiting period for new hires, you can't use sick time before it ends: the app says the first day you can use it, and your hours keep building until then.
- To withdraw a request while it's still pending, tap **Cancel request**. After it's approved you can still cancel it until the day it starts: tap **Cancel time off** and confirm. Your manager is told, and any PTO it used goes back to your balance. Once it has started, ask your manager. (Update the Mays app to the latest version to see **Cancel time off**.)
- An **AI** suggestion (such as *AI: approve*) can appear on your request. It's a hint for your manager, not a decision.

**Why can't I send it?**

- **A blocked day** — a manager has blocked that date (a holiday or a big event) for all locations or for one of the locations you work at, and the app names it — *Food festival is a blocked day at South and can't be requested off.* If you work at more than one location, a blocked day at any of them counts. Android warns you as soon as you pick the date; iPhone when you tap **Submit**.
- *"Time-off requests require at least … days notice."* — your company asks for requests a set number of days ahead, counted from today's date at your location. For example, with 7 days' notice you can ask on Sunday, Nov 1 for Sunday, Nov 8 at any time of day. Sick and safe time doesn't need notice: you can ask for it for today. Android shows the rule on the form, except when **Sick** is picked.
- If there's no note field, your company has turned comments off.

## Approve or decline (managers)

**On the web:** pending requests from all your locations wait in **Scheduling → Approvals** under **Time off**, with **Approve** and **Decline** on each card — see [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox). Or go to **Scheduling → Time Off**: the **Requests** tab lists requests for your location — click **Pending** to see the ones waiting. Each row shows the reason, the category, how many hours of that category the person has approved for days this year (time off in January counts toward January, even if it was asked for in December), and the AI suggestion.

![The Time Off page on the Requests tab filtered to Pending: Owen South's Personal request for Oct 8, 2026 and Olivia South's Vacation request for Oct 19 – 21, 2026, each with an AI: Approve tag and a Pending status](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__time-off-requests__02-time-off-requests.13b0133e03.png)

1. Click a request.
2. Check the **Summary** — the dates, the category, the hours of it taken this year and the AI's reasoning.
3. Optionally type a **Decision note**. The employee sees it in the notification, whether you approve or decline.
4. Click **Approve** or **Decline**.

![A time-off request opened for Olivia South — Vacation, Pending — with its Category, Status, Duration, From and To, the comment Family wedding, a Summary with Oct 19 – 21, 2026 and AI: Approve — No conflicting coverage gap detected, a decision note and the Decline and Approve buttons](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__time-off-requests__03-approve-request.8c22c48ee9.png)

You can also approve or decline from the **⋯** menu on the row. Use **Approve** and **Decline** rather than changing **Status** and clicking **Save** — only they send the *approved*/*declined* notification.

**Your own time off:** managers can't approve their own time off unless an admin allows it; an admin always can.

- **Managers** can't approve or decline their own request — on the web, in the app, or through a connected AI app. It shows **Waiting for another manager** instead of **Approve** and **Decline**, and stays **Pending** until another manager of your location or an admin decides it. You can still edit it while it's pending, or cancel it. Once it's approved, ask another manager or an admin to change it.
- **Admins** (anyone who can edit organization settings) can approve or decline their own request like any other — nobody is above them, so a one-owner business isn't stuck. The request's note records it: *Self-approved by an org admin.*
- **To let managers approve their own**, an admin turns on **Managers can approve their own requests** under **Scheduling → Settings → Approvals** — see [Scheduling settings](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-settings). It covers time off and availability together. A manager's own request then has the usual **Approve** and **Decline** everywhere, and the note records it: *Self-approved by a manager.*

The summary says who approved or declined a request and on which day. A cancelled request just says **Cancelled**. If another manager decided it a moment before you, you see *This request was already approved.* (or *declined*) and the request is counted only once.

**In the app:** go to **Schedule → Approvals** and find the **Time off** section. Tap **Approve** or **Decline** (there's no note in the app). A manager's own request shows *Waiting for another manager — this is your own request* and has no buttons (unless **Managers can approve their own requests** is on); an admin's own request has the usual buttons. See [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox).

**What approving does:**

- Paid time off comes out of the person's balance. If they don't have enough, Mays tells you how much is left and doesn't approve it. Paid sick or safe leave also follows the category's limits and, where Labor law compliance's **Paid sick leave** is on, the location's own rules: a request inside a new hire's waiting period, or past the yearly use limit, is refused with the reason — *Sick time can be used from November 30, 2026: 90 days after Riley's hire date (September 1, 2026). Hours still build up until then.*
- Shifts they already have on those days **stay on the schedule**. Each one gets a red **Time off** mark and appears in the warnings before you publish — reassign them or make them open shifts. See [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule).
- A shift they'd put up for grabs on those days is taken off the board and stays theirs.

## More for managers

- **Add time off for someone:** **Add time off** on the Time Off page. Pick the **Employee**, **Category** and **Status** (**Pending** or **Approved**), then **Full day(s)** or **Partial day** with start and end times. Blocked days and notice rules don't apply to requests you add. A manager adding their own time off can only add it as **Pending** — another manager or an admin approves it — unless **Managers can approve their own requests** is on. An admin can add their own as **Approved**.
- **Calendar** tab: who's off each day this month (approved requests only), plus blocked days.
- **Blocked Days** tab: **Add blocked day** with a **Date**, a **Title** (like *Independence Day*) and a **Location** (or **All locations**). Employees can't request those days off — at that location, or anywhere for **All locations**. Only admins can add or remove a day for all locations. A location manager sees the all-locations days and the days at their own locations; if a day can't be removed, Mays says why.
- **Cancel or remove** a request: open it and set **Status** to **Cancelled** (then **Save**), or click **Delete**. The employee is told either way.
- **Categories, notice and PTO:** admins set these in **Scheduling → Settings** — **Advance notice for time off**, **Allow comments on time-off requests**, and under **Time off & PTO accrual** the categories (**Add category**), how each one earns hours, and each person's balance (**Adjust**).

## Good to know

- **Who decides:** managers for their locations, and admins. Every request waits for a manager. Managers can't approve their own time off; an admin can.
- **The AI suggestion** looks at who else is off and who's scheduled in that period. It's advice only — it never approves or declines anything — and it shows on the employee's own request too.
- **The web has no badge** for pending time off — check **Scheduling → Approvals**, or the **Approvals** count in the app. The schedule grid does show it, though: every day of a pending request is marked **PENDING TIME OFF** in amber on the week and day views, and the month view counts them separately, for example *2 off · 1 pending* (hover for the names). So a manager building the week sees who's waiting before deciding.
- **A pending request is only a hint on the schedule.** It doesn't block anything: a shift can still be placed on that day, and it gets an amber **Pending time off** mark instead of the red **Time off** one. Once the request is approved, the day turns red **TIME OFF** and any shift on it gets the red **Time off** mark and a warning before you publish. A declined or cancelled request comes off the grid. Printed schedules only show approved time off. See [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule).

## Related articles

- Scheduling: [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox) — One place for everything your team is waiting on you for — shift claims, trades, the shift pool, time off and availability.
- Scheduling: [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule) — Build a location's week on the web — add, move, copy and edit shifts, add open shifts, and keep an eye on time off, availability and labor cost while you work.
- Scheduling: [Publishing the schedule and notifying staff](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/publish-the-schedule) — Your team only sees a week once you publish it. Check the warnings, choose who gets notified, publish — and republish, undo or clear a week when plans change.
- Scheduling: [Open shifts and dropping a shift](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/open-shifts) — Pick up extra shifts from Open shifts in the app, or drop a shift so a coworker can take it — your manager approves every claim.
- Scheduling: [Setting your availability](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-your-availability) — Tell your manager which days and hours you can work — as a weekly pattern, or for a date range — from the Availability screen in the Mays app.
- Scheduling: [Your schedule in the app](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/my-schedule-on-mobile) — The Schedule tab in the Mays app shows your upcoming shifts, lets you confirm them, and opens open shifts, shift offers, time off, availability, your hours and the team schedule.
- Mobile apps: [Notifications](https://www.mays.app/help/mobile-apps/push-notifications) — Mays notifies you in the app about shifts, tasks, approvals and chat. See them all under the bell, choose which ones reach your phone, and fix notifications that don't arrive.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/time-off-requests