Time off

A time-off period is a contiguous date range during which an employee is unavailable. It has a status, an optional reason, and a source.

How requests are created

Three paths a request can land in your inbox:

• Manager creates one directly — Settings → Requests → "Add time off". Defaults to approved since you're filing it on the employee's behalf.
• Employee texts the Timely number — "Off May 1-10" lands as a pending request from source: sms. See Text-to-Timely.
• Future — employee web/email submission. Phase B scaffolding is in place; UI not shipped yet.

The lifecycle

pending → approved        (you accept it)
        → denied          (you decline it)
        → cancelled       (employee withdraws or you cancel a previously approved request)

Once a period is approved, it affects:

• Schedule grid — the cell on those dates shows a yellow vacation band, and Smart Copy + AI scheduler skip those days.
• Coverage warnings — the rules engine factors in approved time off when checking shift counts.
• Calendar feed — the employee's iCal subscription includes the time-off period as an all-day event.

A pending request shows in your manager inbox but doesn't yet block scheduling — you can still put the employee on a shift while the request is pending.

A denied or cancelled request is effectively dead — no impact on anything.

Reviewing requests

Settings → Requests (formerly the Time Off page). Filter tabs:

• Pending — your inbox. The number badge in the sidebar shows how many are waiting.
• Upcoming — approved requests in the future. Useful for planning ahead.
• All — everything, including denied/cancelled.

Click any row to expand the inline editor — change dates, add a note, change status, or delete entirely.

Source filter

The "Any source" dropdown lets you filter to manager-created, SMS, email, or import-originated requests. SMS-originated rows show a phone icon in the source column so you can spot them at a glance.

What employees see

When you approve or deny a request, the employee gets:

• An email confirming the outcome
• An SMS confirming the outcome (if they're SMS-opted-in)

The SMS uses your org's name in the from line. If the request originated from SMS, the response text-replies to that thread for continuity.

Common questions

Can I edit dates on an approved request? Yes. Click the row → edit start/end → save. The schedule grid recomputes immediately.

What happens if I delete an approved time-off period? The schedule grid no longer treats those days as off. Any shifts you scheduled on those days during the time-off (you can — Timely warns but allows it) stay put.

Can employees see the manager's notes? No. The notes field on time-off rows is internal — for your team's coordination, never sent to the employee. The reason the employee provides (when texting via Text-to-Timely) is separate and visible to them.

What about partial-day time off? Not currently supported — time off is whole-day only. If an employee needs to leave early or come in late, edit the shift directly rather than filing a time-off period.