# Leave Statuses

The four states a request can hold, what moves it between them, and what each does to a balance.

A request is in exactly one of four states, and only certain moves between them are allowed. The Status column is colour coded so a list can be read without stopping.

![Four rows of the admin leaves table. Hazel Bidwell has Annual Leave on 18 December marked Pending in amber. Tomasz Wojcik has Annual Leave for 20 to 21 November marked Approved in green. Eleanor Whitfield has five days at half-term marked Pending. Kwame Boateng has a single day on 19 October, shown as 1.0 with the note 1st Half, also Pending.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/leaves/leaves-rows.png)

*Amber is waiting, green is granted. Note Kwame's row: a half day is 1.0 with the half named underneath.*

## The four states

| Status | Colour | Means | Balance effect |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pending | Amber | Submitted, nobody has decided. | Days sit in Pending and are already out of Remaining. |
| Approved | Green | Granted. The days are booked. | Pending becomes Used. |
| Rejected | Red | Declined by an approver. | Days return to Remaining. |
| Cancelled | Grey | Withdrawn, by the employee or an administrator. | Days return to Remaining. |

![Two rows from the leaves table. Ruth Alderman has Sick Leave for 7 to 8 July marked Cancelled in grey with an empty Actions cell. Eleanor Whitfield has a single day of Annual Leave on 3 July marked Rejected in red, also with an empty Actions cell.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/leaves/leaves-statuses.png)

*Cancelled and Rejected are both closed states, and both rows end with no actions button.*

## Rejected and Cancelled are not the same thing

They look alike on a balance, because both hand the days back. They differ in who ended the request and what it says about it.

- **Rejected** (somebody said no): An approver considered it and declined. The request stands as a record that it was asked for and refused.
- **Cancelled** (it was withdrawn): The person who asked, or an administrator, took it back. Nobody refused anything; the plan changed.

> **Note:**
>
> **A closed row carries no actions button**
>
> Rejected and cancelled rows end with an empty Actions cell. That is not a permission problem: there is nothing left to do with a request that has already finished.

## What can still change

| From | To | How |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pending | Approved or Rejected | An approver decides it, in Leave Approvals. |
| Pending | Cancelled | The employee withdraws it, or an administrator does. |
| Approved | Cancelled | Depends on your organisation's policy, and on whether the leave has started. |
| Rejected or Cancelled | Nothing | Closed. Raise a fresh request instead. |

> **Tip:**
>
> **Filter to Pending to see only what is outstanding**
>
> It gives you the same set Leave Approvals holds, but with the Status column and the full history still available beside it.