Leave management
Blackout periods
Block or flag leave requests for dates when you need people at work.
- Who
- Owner, Admin, HR
- Where
- Settings → Leave → Blackouts
- How to enable
- Always on. Create a blackout period to use it.
A blackout period marks dates when leave is restricted, such as a product launch, year-end close or peak season. You choose whether those dates are off-limits or just need a person to sign off.
How it works
- Hard block. Requests that overlap the dates are refused, and employees see the blackout's name and reason. The request form warns them before they submit.
- Needs approval. Requests are allowed but always go to a person, even for leave types set to auto-approve. The blackout's name and reason are attached to the request so approvers know why it reached them. If the employee has no approver at all, the request goes to every owner, admin and HR member, and the first to decide settles it.
- Who it applies to. A blackout covers the whole organization by default. You can narrow it to one location, one or more departments, or both. An employee is covered only when they match every filter you set.
- Existing leave. Creating a blackout never cancels leave that's already approved. Those requests are listed on the blackouts page so you can review them.
Good to know
- When HR records leave on someone's behalf, they can override a hard block.
- Blackouts don't change how leave is counted. To give people a day off that doesn't use their balance, add a public holiday.