This guide covers all manager functions in LeaveFlow. A manager is a user with ROLE_MANAGER. Managers have access to the /manager/... area and to the employee self-service area (/my/...).
A manager can also submit their own leave requests, which are then routed to their own department lead or — if they are the department lead — to a department deputy or admin fallback.
The approval queue lists all pending leave requests for departments where you are the configured lead or deputy. A badge on the navigation shows the number of open requests.
Each entry shows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Employee | Name and department |
| Absence type | e.g., Urlaub, Sonderurlaub |
| Date range | Start and end dates |
| Duration | Total working hours and days |
| Working days breakdown | Per-day breakdown including holiday exclusions |
| Balance | Employee's remaining entitlement after this request |
| Requested at | Timestamp of the submission |
You can only see requests for departments where you are the lead or deputy. Requests from other departments are not visible.
If a request is not routed to you but you believe it should be, ask your admin to check the department configuration.
Click Approve to approve the request. The employee receives an email notification. The entitlement balance is immediately reduced.
Click Reject. You must enter a mandatory reason. The reason is visible to the employee in their request history and on their audit trail.
If you submitted the request yourself (manager submitting leave for themselves), you cannot approve your own request. The system enforces this rule — the approve button is disabled for self-submitted requests. They are routed to your deputy, or to an admin if no deputy is configured.
Once approved, the approval cannot be reversed directly. The employee must submit a cancellation request, which you can then approve or deny (see below).
When an employee wants to cancel an already-approved leave request, they submit a cancellation request. The request moves to the cancel_requested state and appears in your approval queue.
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Confirm Cancellation | Leave request is cancelled, entitlement hours are restored |
| Deny Cancellation | Leave request returns to approved state, employee is notified |
If you deny a cancellation, you must provide a reason. The reason is visible to the employee.
Employees can cancel pending requests themselves without manager approval. Only approved requests require manager confirmation for cancellation.
The team calendar shows all approved leave requests for your department in a FullCalendar.js view.
| Role | Default view scope |
|---|---|
| Manager | Own department |
| Admin | All departments |
| Employee | Own department |
Use the filter bar above the calendar to narrow the view:
When submitting a new leave request, employees see a banner in the live preview if colleagues from their department are already absent during the requested period. The banner shows the count of concurrently absent team members.
Blackout periods are configured by admins. As a manager, you see blackout periods on the team calendar as red background events. When an employee tries to request leave overlapping a blackout period, they receive an immediate blocking error in the request form.
If you believe a blackout period needs to be changed or removed, contact your admin.
When an employee accumulates 42 consecutive calendar days of sick leave (§3 EntgFG threshold), LeaveFlow automatically sends a notification to the department lead.
The notification appears in-app and is delivered via email. It contains:
This alert is informational. The system does not take any automated action. It is the responsibility of the manager or HR to initiate the required statutory process (certificate of incapacity for work from the health insurance).
The alert is idempotent — it fires once per illness episode and does not repeat unless a new episode begins after the employee returns.
Illness tracking requires the absence type to have the Illness tracking flag enabled. This is pre-configured for the default "Krankheit" type.
Managers receive notifications for the following events:
| Event | Channel |
|---|---|
| New leave request submitted (for your department) | In-app + Email |
| Employee requests cancellation of approved leave | In-app + Email |
| Leave request escalated (unanswered past threshold) | In-app + Email |
| 6-week illness threshold reached | In-app + Email |
You can opt out of email notifications per event type. In-app notifications cannot be disabled.
All notifications are visible in the in-app notification inbox, accessible via the bell icon in the navigation bar. The bell badge shows the count of unread notifications. Click a notification to navigate directly to the relevant leave request.