SOURCE:    Vacation Tracker
TITLE:     How Do I Make Adding a Reason Mandatory for a Leave Type?
URL:       https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-to-make-adding-a-reason-mandatory-for-a-leave-type/
LANG:      en
PUBLISHED: 2020-12-29
UPDATED:   2026-01-27
READING:   1 min
SUMMARY:   Sometimes an organization will require you to add a reason to your leave.

How Do I Make Adding a Reason Mandatory for a Leave Type?

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Last updated on January 27, 2026

How Do I Make Adding a Reason Mandatory for a Leave Type?

Some companies want context on every request — why someone is taking the day off, not just that they are. Making the Reason field mandatory forces employees to write a short note before they can submit a leave request.

Your Sick Day policy previously let employees book a day off with no comment. Turning on Reason Required means the request form won't submit until they write a note — even a short one like "Doctor's appointment" — so approvers and admins have context when they see the request.

How to Make the Reason Mandatory

The Reason Required setting lives on each leave policy — meaning you can require a reason for Vacation at one Location, while leaving Personal Day open-ended at another. You do this per Location, per Leave Type.

  1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io.
  2. In the left-hand menu, expand Leave Setup and click Locations.
  3. Click Edit Leave Policies on the Location you want to configure.
  4. Find the leave policy you want to update (for example, Vacation or Sick Day) and click the edit icon on its row.
  5. In the policy editor, tick the Reason Required checkbox.
Leave policy editor with the reason required checkbox highlighted
  1. Click Update to save your changes.

From this moment on, any employee assigned to that Location and Leave Type will need to type something in the Reason field before the request form will go through.

Tip
The requirement is set per policy. If you want all Vacation requests across every Location to require a reason, you'll need to turn the setting on for each Location's Vacation policy — there isn't a single global switch.

What Employees See

When a leave type has Reason Required turned on, the Request Leave form behaves slightly differently for that employee:

  • The Reason field still looks the same on the form, but submitting with it empty won't go through — the employee has to type a note before the request will be accepted.
  • Approvers and Admins see the reason alongside the request when they review or approve it. Teammates and anyone outside the approval chain don't see it.

Common Questions

Only the User's Approver and Vacation Tracker Admins. Teammates, other managers outside the approval chain, and calendar integrations don't see the reason — they only see that the person is away. See Administrator vs Approver Role for more on what each role can access.

Yes. The setting is on each leave policy, and every leave policy is tied to one Leave Type at one Location. You could make Bereavement require a reason while leaving Vacation optional — each policy has its own independent setting.

No. The rule only applies to new requests submitted after you save the change. Previously approved or pending leaves without a reason aren't affected, and nobody has to go back and add one.

What's Next?

How Do I Create and Configure Leave Policies? How Do I Set Half-Day Intervals? How Do I Set Up and Configure Accruals?
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Contact our Support team via email or chat, Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.

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