Approving Employee Submitted Absences

Approving Employee Submitted Absences

Absence Considerations
 Employee’s request time off by department’s current method (email, calendar, etc.), once you
give the employee approval, then the employee will record the absence in HRS as the same
time when he/she submits a timesheet. You will need to approve their absences in HRS so that
the system can update their leave balances and process payroll correctly.
 It is recommended that you approve your employee’s absences and timesheets by the Monday
following the end of a pay period.
 Supervisors have until Noon on Tuesday following a pay period to approve employee’s
absences and payable time.

Log into the portal
 My UW System portal at https://my.wisconsin.edu/.
 A link is available from the HR Home Page.
 A link is available the Faculty and Staff Home Page.
 Look for the “Manager Time and Approval” section
 Click on the “Absence” tab. This will display employee absence requests that require approval.
 Click on the “Approve Absence” link. This will take you into HRS to approve the submitted
absence requests.

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Absence Requests Page
 After clicking on Approve Absence you will be brought to the Absence Requests Page.
o Manager Self Service > Time Management > Approve Time and Exceptions > Absence
Requests
 A list of employee’s who have submitted an absence will be listed.
o You will be able to see the:
 Absence type
 Start and End date
 When the absence was submitted

 From the “Show Requests by Status” field you can choose Pending, Approved, or Denied
Absences.
o Once your selection is made click on “Refresh”.

 By clicking on the blue hyperlinked employee name, you will be taken to a screen where you
can Approve, Deny, or Push Back an absence.


Absence Approver Page

 You will be brought to the Absence Approve Page after clicking on the blue hyperlinked
employee name and be able to view:
o The available balance for the type of absence taken
o Any comments from the employee submitting the absence
o Click on the Approve, Deny, or Push Back button

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 APPROVE: Choosing this option will allow the employee to take their absence. Once you
approve an absence, you cannot make any changes. Only the payroll coordinator will be able to
make any necessary adjustments.

 DENY: Choosing this option means that you will not allow your employee to take their absence.
 PUSH BACK: If you choose to “Push Back” an absence request you are telling the employee that

they may need to make a change to their absence and then resubmit.
o An example of a push back could be used when an employee does not have enough
Personal Holiday and needs to take Vacation instead.
o If the employee submits an absence and then needs to make a change, by ‘pushing
back’ the absence this will activate the Edit button and allow the employee to change
the absence and resubmit.

 HRS will show a warning and a confirmation before an absence is approved.

Additional Resources for Absence Approvals:

Viewing Absence Request Status
 Before approving absences, it is recommended that supervisors check to make sure their
employees have enough leave time to take the absence they have submitted. The only way of
know that an employee will be paid for an absence is for the employee and/or supervisor to
review absence balances before submitting/approving.

 To check the employee’s balances, click on “View Absence Balances”
o Enter the date on which you would like to start searching
o Click “Continue”

 The first column “Entitlement Name” or absence types an employee may have available is
listed.

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 The second column will be “Balance as of …” the last running of Time Administration (a process
that runs at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and nightly).

Absence Request History
 It is the employee’s responsibility to check in HRS to see if their absences are Approved, Denied,
or Pushed Back.

o Saved: Indicates the employee chose to “Save for Later”. It is not recommended that
employees use the “Save for Later” option. Absences will be lost in HRS if the employee
does not remember to go back and click “Submit”.

o Submitted: Indicates that the supervisor has not yet looked at this request.
o Pushed Back: Indicates that the employee needs to make some changes to their

request. The employee needs click on the EDIT button to make changes to the request
and then resubmit.
o Denied: The employee may not take the absence they have submitted.
o Approved: The employee may take the absence they requested.
Notice: When the employee accesses the Absence Request History page, they can see the Name and
the Status of their absences along with the dates for which the absence was taken.

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