54+ Sample Leave of Absence Letters and Forms

What Is a Leave of Absence Letter and a Leave of Absence Form?

Most of the time, a leave of absence letter and a leave of absence form are used interchangeably. However, there is actually a difference between the two documents. Below are some descriptions and ways of usage that can help you separate the two documents from one another.

Leave of Absence Letter

A leave of absence letter is a document made by an employee. Do you know that 17.2% of vacation days have been used by American employees last 2017 (source: ustravel)? Imagine if these employees did not give any notice to their employer. The operations of the business and the dynamics of the department where these employees belong will be affected.  Writing a leave of absence letter can help you a lot especially when it comes to getting the approval of your manager. A leave of absence letter can serve as proof or evidence that you really took the time to give the notice necessary for the management to process your leave request.

Leave of Absence Form

A leave of absence form, on the other hand, is a document that is developed by employers. Unlike leave of absence letters that can be written in many different ways by different employees, a leave of absence form is usually formatted in a standard manner to ensure that the human resource department can get the necessary information that they need from employees who are filing for a vacation or any types of the leave request.

7 Steps for Developing an Outstanding Leave of Absence Letter

If you need to take time off from work, you can write your manager or the human resource department a leave of absence letter. Below is a standard Operating procedure that can give you an easy time during the development of your own leave of absence letter.

Step 1: Look For Leave of Absence Letter References

If you are unsure of how you can begin the creation of your own leave of absence letter, it will be best if you can refer to different content development guides. Use templates if you need formatting help. More so, look into a number of leave of absence letter samples so you can have an idea of how other people wrote the document based on the situation during the time of the letter’s writing.

Step 2: Focus on the Development of the Letter’s Format

Since templates are pre-formatted, make sure that you will alter or edit the information that you can see in the document upon downloading it. Write a header that specifies your name and other personal information. After this, develop an inside address containing the name and address of the person to whom the letter is for. Do not forget to write the date when you have written the letter before you start the actual letter content with a formal salutation and a greeting.

Step 3: Come Up With a Compelling and Complete Introduction

Make the introduction of your leave of absence letter informative. Fill it with all the most important information or key points that your manager should be aware of. Write a statement of the request for leave of absence, present the purpose or the reason why you would like to take time off from work, and specifically list the dates where you will be out of the office.

Step 4: Further Discuss More Information About Your Request for a Leave of Absence

Since the introduction of your leave of absence letter must be brief and direct to the point, you can use the next paragraph of the letter to showcase all the supporting details that can make your request for a leave of absence clearer and more understandable. Focus on discussing the reason for the request and the duration of your leave of absence.

Step 5: Add Any Other Details Which You Think Are Necessary to Be Known by Your Employer

Aside from the items listed above, you can still use another paragraph to write any additional information that you would like to relay to the company. You can state the availability of your communication lines if there will be emergencies or important matters that need to be dealt with during your leave.

Step 6: Write a Message of Appreciation for Consideration

Do not forget to show your gratitude for the time that your manager, the management, and/or the human resource department took to review your letter. Use a statement requesting for the business’ kind consideration and understanding to make the letter look and sound more polite and formal.

Step 7: Use a Complimentary Close Followed by Your Name and Signature

End the letter with a complimentary close. Once you are already satisfied with all the details that you have written in the letter, affix your signature at the bottom part of the letter together with your name. You can also include your work designation in this part of the letter if you would like to.

Types of Leave of Absence Forms

Companies may develop different kinds of leave of absence forms or create a general one with further specifications. If you want to have a number of leave of absence forms, it is important for you to look closely on all the details of each of them so you can ensure that all form documents are comprehensive, polished, and well put together. A few types of leave of absence forms include the following:

Request for vacation leave form: An employee vacation request form is filled-up whenever an employee decides to use his or her vacation leave credits or entitlements.Sick leave form: If an employee cannot go to work because of sickness, a leave of absence form is necessary to be filled-up before he or she can go back to work. Usually, a sick leave form needs to be accompanied by a fit-to-work note from the company’s doctor and/or a medical certificate from a trusted hospital or healthcare provider.Leave without pay form: There are companies that still require their employees to submit a request for leave of absence even if the leave is unpaid. If an employee runs out of paid leave credits but still needs a time off for personal reasons, he or she needs to submit a leave without pay form to the human resource department.Parental and maternity leave forms: Depending on the state where you are at, there are different regulations about parental and maternity leaves. If you are a parent and you need to use any of these leave credits, make sure to fill-up a parental or maternity leave form and ask your company about the policies that you need to abide.Short notice or emergency leave form: There are cases where an employee needs to be absent from work immediately or be out of the office sooner than his or her expected time out. Emergencies and other unexpected circumstances that need to be looked into right away are usually the causes of emergency leaves. Use a short notice or emergency leave form to make sure that this type of leaves are still properly recorded and considered by your employer.

How to Create the Perfect Leave of Absence Form

Do you want to make a leave of absence form that can be very useful for the documentation and management of leave of absence requests and other related processes? Here is a simple procedure that you can follow if you want to create the perfect leave of absence form for your organization, business, company, or establishment:

Step 1: Use a Downloadable and Printable Leave of Absence Form Template

For documentation purposes, make sure that your leave of absence form is standardized. Use an absence form template and other references to help you create a well-formatted leave of absence form document. Modify the pre-formatted content of the template especially it’s header, title, instructions, and reminders so that you can incorporate your own brand and original content specifications in the document.

Step 2: Gather Necessary Personal Information From Your Employee

Get the name, work position, and contact details of the employee who is filing for a leave of absence. Having all the information of the employee can let the human resource department easily check the remaining leave credits of the individual.

Step 3: Ask for the Dates or Hours of the Leave of Absence

Properly record the duration of the leave of absence. Know the total hours of leave of absence that an employee requests. You should also make sure that you will take note of the dates when the leave of absence is supposed to begin and end.

Step 4: Identify the Type of Leave Asked By the Employee

Make sure that you will have an idea of the type of leave being requested or filed by an employee. Know the reason for the request so you can use this data for purposes of referencing, trend assessment, and proper documentation.

Step 5: Write the Name of the Supervisor and the Department’s Administrator or Timekeeper

Get the details of all the people who are involved in the transaction. This is to make sure that the supervisor or manager, the administrator of the department, and the human resource personnel are well aware of an employee’s leave of absence.

Step 6: Use Signature Blocks Where the Employee and Other Concerned Entities Can Affix Their Signatures

The names and information of all entities specified above are not enough. Make sure that these individuals will affix their signatures in their allocated signature blocks. This can prove that they are knowledgeable of the leave of absence that took or that will take place.

Step 7: Check the Completion of All the Information Needed for the Leave of Absence Form to Be Deemed Comprehensive

Always browse through your leave of absence form draft for a couple of times. Polish all the details of the document so there is no need to update or change the document shortly after printing and using it.

Advantages of Using Effective Leave of Absence Letters and Forms

There are several advantages or benefits that an employee and an employer can get if the development and usage of leave of absence letters and forms will take place. Do you want to know what these benefits are? Here are some of the advantages of using the effective leave of absence letters and leave of absence forms:

A leave of absence letter and/or a leave of absence form can help the human resource department properly and appropriately record an employee’s absence from work: The human resource department play a big role in ensuring that all employee records are accurate. With the usage of leave of absence letters and forms, they can have the materials that they need for proper timekeeping and attendance review.A leave of absence letter and/or a leave of absence form can showcase or reflect the professionalism of an employee: Always put your request for a leave of absence in writing as this can let the business know that you are very particular when it comes to following leave policies and rules. Use the correct leave of absence form and/or write a detailed leave of absence letter whenever you plan to take a leave of absence from work.A leave of absence letter and/or a leave of absence form can be used as a supporting document during the creation of payroll: Having a leave of absence letter and form can make the human resource department create a fact-based and well-supported employee payroll form. Hence, there will lessen chances of payroll mistakes especially when it comes to properly crediting paid leaves.A leave of absence letter and/or a leave of absence form can be kept by the management for purposes of referencing: Using a leave of absence letter can help your supervisor, manager, department head, and any other concerned entities to understand why you are requesting for a particular leave. Also, an employer can counter check leave of absence letters and forms when developing a vacation tracker. The information that can be gathered from these documents can be used for your performance review and evaluation.

Dos and Don’ts for Making Excellent Leave of Absence Letters and Forms

There is no secret to creating a good leave of absence letter and form. All you need to do is to focus on the development of the document and be aware of certain guidelines that can give you an upper hand in terms of putting together all the elements that you need. A few tips that can enable you to make an excellent leave of absence letter and/or form are listed below.

Do’s

1. Do Use a Suitable, Complete, Relevant, and Effective Pre-Formatted Template For the Development of Your Leave of Absence Letters and/or Forms

A template can enable you to format your leave of absence letter or form in the best way possible. Find the best template to use depending on your formatting requirements.

2. Do Consider the Usability of the Document When Developing Its Layout and Format

Not all leave of absence letters and forms work in the same manner. Structure your letter or form layout accordingly so your message can be understood by your target audience in the right way. Do not complicate your document’s format as this can only make it look unpolished and poorly conceptualized.

3. Do Ensure That You Will Have a Comprehensive Leave of Absence Letter or Form as an Output

For the leave of absence letter or form to be highly-utilized by the management and the human resource department, you have to make sure that you will write or include all the major points that are expected to be seen in the specified documents. Doing this can enable you to lessen inquiries and questions from individuals at the other end of the transaction.

Don’ts

1. Don’t Rely on References Alone 

It sure does help whenever you use references to improve your knowledge areas with regards to the development of leave of absence letters or forms. Even if you can get a lot of advantages from using templates and samples, it is still important for you to know how you can optimize these references without faking any information about your request for a leave of absence.

2. Don’t Write Any Falsified, Inaccurate, or Wrong Information in the Document

Your leave of absence form or letter must contain details that are valid and real. Since the information that can be seen in these documents will be recorded by the human resource department, it will be best if you will be as truthful as possible.

3. Don’t Make Your Leave of Absence Form or Letter Lengthy

The employment contracts and employee handbooks of your employees typically have all the necessary information with regards to leave entitlements and conditions or terms of its usage. With this, it is already unnecessary for you to include all related information in your leave of absence form. Make your leave of absence form brief yet still comprehensive. The same goes when making a leave of absence letter.

Are you now planning to create your own leave of absence letter or leave of absence form? If you want to write and prepare any of these documents, make sure to download any of the available templates and samples that we have listed above.