---
name: "hr_decide_leave"
area: "hr"
title: "Approve, decline or cancel leave"
price: "$0.01"
method: "POST"
url: "https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/hr_decide_leave"
mcp_server: "https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/hr"
auth: "Authorization: Bearer <conecto_sk_ key>"
docs_url: "https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_decide_leave"
---

# Approve, decline or cancel leave (`hr_decide_leave`)

Approves or declines a pending leave request, or cancels one that is pending or approved.

Decide on a leave request: approve or decline one that is pending, or cancel one that is pending or approved (approved days go back to the balance). Declined and cancelled requests stay as they are; ask again with hr_request_leave. Approving checks the balance again; allow_negative: true lets it go below 0. Returns the request and the balance after it.

Price: $0.01 a call. A call that fails costs nothing.

## Use it when

A manager decided, or plans changed.

## Say this to your agent

> Lena says yes to Tom's Christmas leave.

## Inputs

| Name | Type | Required | Description | Allowed values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `request_id` | integer | yes | At least 1. |  |  |
| `decision` | string | yes |  | `"approve"`, `"decline"`, `"cancel"` |  |
| `note` | string | no | Up to 1,000 characters. |  |  |
| `allow_negative` | boolean | no |  |  | `false` |

## Example

Written for Hansen & Voss, a restaurant-equipment wholesaler in Hamburg with 60 staff.

MCP: call `hr_decide_leave` on the MCP server `https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/hr` with these arguments:

```json
{
  "request_id": 4142,
  "decision": "approve",
  "note": "Enjoy the holidays!"
}
```

REST:

```bash
curl https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/hr_decide_leave \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONECTO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"request_id": 4142, "decision": "approve", "note": "Enjoy the holidays!"}'
```

## Response

```json
{
  "call_id": "5f0c8a2e-3b7d-4c1e-9a64-2d8e1f7b0c93",
  "tool": "hr_decide_leave",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "replayed": false,
  "cost_usd": "$0.01",
  "balance_usd": "$19.75",
  "result": {
    "request": {
      "request_id": 4142,
      "person": {
        "person_id": 4102,
        "name": "Tom Okafor"
      },
      "leave_type": "Vacation",
      "paid": true,
      "start": "2026-12-21",
      "end": "2026-12-31",
      "half_start": false,
      "half_end": true,
      "days": "7.5",
      "hours": "60",
      "by_leave_year": {
        "2026": "7.5"
      },
      "status": "approved",
      "note": "Christmas with family",
      "decision_note": "Enjoy the holidays!",
      "decided_by": "Pip",
      "decided_at": "2026-10-14T08:00:00+00:00",
      "allow_negative": false,
      "created_at": "2026-10-14T08:00:00+00:00"
    },
    "balances": [
      {
        "leave_type": "Vacation",
        "tracked": true,
        "paid": true,
        "year": 2026,
        "from": "2026-01-01",
        "to": "2026-12-31",
        "annual_days": "28",
        "own_allowance": false,
        "accrual": "yearly",
        "months_counted": 12,
        "entitlement": "28",
        "carried_over": "0",
        "adjustments": "0",
        "approved": "7.5",
        "balance": "20.5",
        "pending": "0",
        "available_after_pending": "20.5"
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

`result`: request: the request with its new status; balances: the balance after it.

## Errors

| Code | Status | When | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| `not_found` | 404 | No leave request has that request_id. | Find it with hr_list_leave. |
| `already_approved` | 409 | The request is approved already. | Cancel it instead to undo it. |
| `already_declined` | 409 | The request is declined. | Ask again with hr_request_leave. |
| `already_cancelled` | 409 | The request is cancelled. | Ask again with hr_request_leave. |
| `outside_employment` | 409 | The dates are outside the person's employment now. | Cancel the request. |
| `not_enough_days` | 409 | The balance (after pending requests) cannot take the days. | Ask for fewer days, or pass allow_negative: true if the owner agrees. |

The refusals every tool can give (401 key, 402 balance, 429 limits) are on the errors page: https://conecto.chat/docs/errors.md

## Related

- [hr_save_people](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_save_people.md): Adds people or changes them, up to 100 at a time, all or none: names, emails, job, department, location, manager, dates and allowances. $1.00 per person added.
- [hr_list_people](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_list_people.md): People by last name, everyone who hasn't left by default, filtered by status, department, location, manager, type or words. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_get_person](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_get_person.md): Everything about one person: details, leave balances for a year, pending and upcoming leave, documents, open tasks and direct reports. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_delete_person](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_delete_person.md): Erases a person for good with their leave, tasks and document records; their files stay in the store. Free.
- [hr_get_settings](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_get_settings.md): The working days, hours, leave year, time zone, leave types, public holidays and checklists. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_save_settings](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_save_settings.md): Sets the work calendar: working days, hours per day, leave year, time zone, and one location's public holidays for a year. $0.001 a call.
- [hr_save_leave_type](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_save_leave_type.md): Adds or changes a kind of time off: annual days, monthly or yearly accrual, carry-over, paid and tracked. $0.001 a call.
- [hr_adjust_leave](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_adjust_leave.md): Adds days to, or takes days off, one person's balance of a tracked leave type, with the reason. $0.01 a call.
- [hr_request_leave](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_request_leave.md): Asks for time off for someone, counting working days less holidays; it waits for a decision unless approved at once. $0.01 a call.
- [hr_list_leave](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_list_leave.md): Leave requests, latest start first, by person, status, type or dates. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_who_is_out](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_who_is_out.md): Who is off in a period (today by default), with each leave and its days, plus public holidays and people on long leave. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_save_checklist](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_save_checklist.md): Adds or changes an onboarding or offboarding checklist: items with an owner and a due day relative to the start or last day. $0.001 a call.
- [hr_start_checklist](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_start_checklist.md): Turns a checklist into tasks for one person, each due relative to their start date or last day. $0.01 a call.
- [hr_tasks](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_tasks.md): Checklist tasks, soonest due first: open, overdue, done or all, for one person, one owner or a date. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_complete_task](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_complete_task.md): Marks a checklist task done, or opens it again. $0.01 a call.
- [hr_save_document](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_save_document.md): Keeps a file from the store on a person's record (a contract, an ID, a certificate), or changes or removes it. $0.01 a call.
- [hr_report](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_report.md): Headcount, joiners and leavers, time off taken, or everyone's leave balances. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_dashboard_link](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_dashboard_link.md): A one-time link to HR at a glance: who is out, leave to decide, open tasks, and who starts or leaves soon. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [hr_save_policy](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_save_policy.md): Keeps a policy people must read and confirm, like an AI use policy; a changed text is a new version. $0.001 a call.
- [hr_send_policy](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_send_policy.md): Emails each person in a policy's scope a one-time link to read and confirm its current version. $0.02 per email sent.
- [hr_record_training](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_record_training.md): Records a training someone completed, like AI literacy, with its date, hours, certificate and expiry. $0.01 a call.
- [hr_policy_status](https://conecto.chat/tools/hr/hr_policy_status.md): Who confirmed each policy's current version, and who holds a valid training of each kind. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
