How to record an employee's absence

What is it for?

When an employee is absent, is on leave or gives blood, the HR manager records the absence in fiscaldoo. The chosen time type says what the absence is and whether it needs approval and proof. Once approved, it is in the Absence requests list with the Approved state. Annual holidays also appear in the Holiday map.

When to use it?

• The employee has notified an absence, which must be recorded before the end of the month.
• The justification for an absence has arrived (for example the blood donation declaration).
• The employee has not made the request in My space (see How to request holidays or another absence) and asks you to record it for them.

To schedule holidays, the form is the same, but there are specific rules (days available, periods of 10 working days, where to find them after saving): see How to schedule the year's holidays and follow the balances.

Where to find it?

People › Leave and absences › Absence requests › New

Before you start

• Your profile is HR manager.
• The employee has a file in the active company (top right corner). To create a file, see How to create an employee file.
• You have the dates of the absence and, if the type requires proof, the document justifying it in a file (for example, the blood donation declaration as a PDF).

How to use it

1. Open People › Leave and absences › Absence requests and click New.
2. In Worker, choose the employee, for example Eva Cristina Rocha.
3. Time Type comes filled in with Authorised or approved by the employer. If that is not the absence, clear it, type part of the name and choose the type, for example Blood donation. The list follows Portuguese law: type Falta to see the justified absences, or Licença for the types of leave (parental and others). The list only shows the first ones: Search more..., at the bottom, opens the rest, such as Unjustified absence. The title at the top of the form keeps saying “Authorised or approved by the employer 08:00” until you save, even with another type chosen.
4. In Dates, click the first date and choose, on the calendar, the first and the last day. For a single day, click the same day twice. The duration appears underneath, for example 1.00 day(s).
5. If you wish, write a note in Description.
6. If the type requires proof, the top of the form shows “A document justifying this type of absence must be attached.”. Open the Portuguese law: communication, proof and effect tab, below the request details. In Proof, choose the type of document, for example Other document. If you have already received the document, write the date in Proof delivered on: after saving, the Proof status becomes Delivered in time and the warning disappears from the request. Proof is only a list: the file is attached in step 8.
7. Click the save icon (the cloud next to New).
8. To attach the document, click Attach file, next to Proof document, on the same tab, and choose the file on your computer. For Blood donation, the file is health data: only someone who also has the View medical absence profile can attach it. Without it, the screen replies “Files cannot be attached to this absence. What happened: a file of this absence is health data (GDPR, art. 9) and colleagues and managers read the absence. How to fix it: ask the “View medical absence” profile to attach it (for the absence of a family member, that person also needs a profile that opens absences, such as “HR”).” The paperclip in the history gives the same reply. In that case, keep to the date in Proof delivered on and ask someone with that profile for the file.

Next to New, in the list, there is also New group absence, which this article does not cover.

Expected result

The state in the top right corner depends on the time type:

• To Approve, with the Approve and Refuse buttons: the absence is waiting for approval. In the example, the Blood donation of 02/12/2026 ended up like this, with the return date calculated (Back to work on 03/12/2026). With the date in Proof delivered on, the proof warning disappeared. Approval is covered in How to approve holiday and absence requests.
• Approved: the absence is approved straight away and the request's history says “The time off has been automatically approved”. This is what happened with Annual holidays recorded with this profile. Those holidays stay in the Absence requests list and can also be seen in People › Leave and absences › Holiday map (see How to schedule the year's holidays and follow the balances).

Important notes

• The time type decides how the absence counts in payroll. Some names say so, such as Absence with the retribution suspended. If you do not know which type to choose, ask whoever processes payroll before saving.
• The employee can also make the request themselves. In My space › Absences and attendance › My absences the request is To Approve and appears here, in Absence requests. When the request is the employee's, HR only approves or refuses it; use this procedure when HR is the one recording it (for example, an absence that has already happened).

Common problems

“An employee already booked time off which overlaps with this period” appears

• Symptom: on saving, the Validation Error window says: “An employee already booked time off which overlaps with this period: Hugo Miguel Santos from 16/11/2026 to 27/11/2026 - Approved”.
• Cause: the employee already has another absence on one of the chosen days. In the example, a Blood donation on 18/11/2026 overlapped the holidays from 16/11/2026 to 27/11/2026.
• What to do: click Close and change the dates. If the earlier absence is wrong, open it and correct it first: in the Absence requests list or, if it is holidays, as in this example, in the Holiday map.

“Files cannot be attached to this absence” appears

• Symptom: when attaching the declaration in Proof document or with the paperclip in the history, “Uploading error” appears with that sentence and the file is not kept.
• Cause: the file for this absence is health data, which only the View medical absence profile can attach.
• What to do: write the date in Proof delivered on and save: the Proof status becomes Delivered in time and the warning disappears. Ask someone with the View medical absence profile to attach the file.

Holidays are refused because they have fewer than 10 working days

See “Common problems” in How to schedule the year's holidays and follow the balances.