Classic form

Leave request form

Most leave requests are refused or delayed for one of three reasons: the dates are ambiguous, nobody knows who is covering, or the evidence rule was never stated. This form closes all three in one page and puts the notice periods where the person is standing when they pick their dates. It is written for an Australian employer under the Fair Work rules, and it is a classic form because a manager reads a request as a whole, with the notice periods and the certificate rule beside the fields they govern.

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Top of the leave request form example
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The form itself

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Leave request

One form for every kind of leave. Requests are answered within two working days, and anything inside the notice period below is answered the same day because it has to be.

You

The leave

Count only the days you were rostered on. Do not include rostered days off, public holidays or substituted days. A run of leave across a weekend is two working days, not four, and getting this right is what stops payroll sending it back on the Friday before you go.

Evidence, only when it is needed

Our policy asks for a medical certificate or a statutory declaration for personal and carer leave of more than two consecutive days. One day off with a cold does not need one, although an employer is entitled to ask for evidence for a single day and some do. Nothing here is read by your manager: the file goes to the people team, who record that evidence was provided and tell your manager only that.

One PDF or a photo, under 10 MB. A phone photo of a paper certificate is fine as long as the date and the practitioner name are readable. Leave this empty for annual leave.

While you are away

Before you send it

Annual leave needs four weeks notice for anything over five days, and two weeks under that. Personal and carer leave is asked for as early as you can manage, which is often the morning of. Nothing is approved until you have it in writing, so please do not pay for a flight on the strength of a conversation in the yard.

Every field, and what it collects

The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.

You

Your nameNameRequired
Employee numberShort textRequired
Your teamDropdownRequired
Options: Line haul drivers · Local delivery · Warehouse, day shift · Warehouse, night shift · Transport planning · Customer service · Workshop
Your manager's emailShort textRequired

The leave

What kind of leave?Single choiceRequired
Options: Annual leave · Annual leave at half pay, for twice as long · Annual leave in advance, before I have accrued it · Personal leave, I am unwell · Carer leave, someone in my household needs me · Compassionate leave · Long service leave · Unpaid leave · Time in lieu I have already accrued
First day awayDateRequired
First day back at workDateRequired
Working days you are asking forNumberRequired
Is any of it a half day?Single choiceRequired
Options: No · Yes, the first day · Yes, the last day
Balance you believe you have, in daysNumber
Your guess, not a payroll figure.
Anything your manager should knowLong text

Evidence, only when it is needed

Certificate or statutory declarationFile upload
One PDF or a photo, under 10 MB. A phone photo of a paper certificate is fine as long as the date and the practitioner name are readable. Leave this empty for annual leave.

While you are away

Who is covering you?Short textRequired
Have you spoken to them?Single choiceRequired
Options: Yes, they have agreed · Not yet · Nothing needs covering
What is in flight that somebody will need to pick upLong text
Can you be contacted?Single choiceRequired
Options: No, and please do not · Emergencies only · Yes, ring me if you need to
Number while you are awayShort text

Before you send it

I confirmMultiple choiceRequired
Options: The dates above are the days I am rostered to work, not the calendar days I am away · If I am taking leave in advance, I understand any unaccrued portion can be recovered if I leave · I have not booked anything that depends on this being approved · If the leave is cancelled or changed I will send this form again rather than telling one person

What makes this form work

The cover question is two fields, and the second one is the useful one

Naming a colleague is easy and means nothing. Asking whether you have actually spoken to them, with "not yet" as an honest option, is what turns a name into an arrangement and gives the manager the one thing they were going to ask anyway.

The notice periods are stated at the point of sending

Four weeks over five days, two weeks under. Written in the last block, next to the confirmations, where somebody is deciding whether to send. A notice period living in a handbook is a rule nobody breaks on purpose and everybody breaks by accident.

Contactability is asked instead of assumed

Three answers, including "no, and please do not". It takes a decision that is usually made by a manager on the day and hands it back to the person taking the leave, in writing, before the leave starts.

Questions people ask

Why ask for the first day back rather than the last day away?

Because it removes the argument. "Last day away" is read differently by people who count weekends and people who do not, and the two readings differ by exactly the days that get paid wrongly. First day away and first day back are unambiguous, and the working days count sits between them as a check.

When does a leave request need a medical certificate?

That is a policy choice, not a fixed rule. This employer asks for one after two consecutive days, and the form says so above the upload. It is worth knowing that an employer can reasonably ask for evidence for a single day, and that a statutory declaration is an accepted substitute when a doctor cannot be seen. Naming the threshold you use, rather than implying a universal one, is what makes it fair.

How does the manager find out?

Through the email alert add-on. Switch it on, give it one address, and every submission arrives as an email with the submitted values in the body. It is one address, not a routing rule, so a team with several managers usually sends to a shared inbox and lets the team field do the sorting.

Can the form approve or reject the leave?

No. A form collects a request; it has no approval state, no workflow and no way to send the answer back. The approval happens wherever your team already works, and the honest version of this form says so on the thank-you screen rather than leaving somebody to assume a submission is a yes.

Should a leave form ask who is covering the work?

Yes, and this one goes further by asking whether you have spoken to them. Naming a colleague without telling them is how cover falls over. The follow up question is uncomfortable enough to prompt the conversation, and it gives the approver something to check rather than a name typed to fill a required field.

Why ask whether the person can be contacted while away?

To set the expectation before they leave rather than during. This form asks it in the while you are away section, with an optional number. Most people answer no, which is the point. Making it an explicit question stops the assumption that silence means availability, and it gives the manager one place to look.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .