Must vacation leave be approved when an employee is tardy?

No. For occasional instances of tardiness, it is appropriate to allow employees to charge the tardy to vacation rather than charging AWOL or Leave without Pay. However, once a pattern of tardiness emerges, you should counsel the employee and advise him/her that future tardies will be charged to LWOP (if the employee calls in) or AWOL as appropriate, and that such a charge may lead to further corrective or disciplinary action. Please see Sample Counseling Memo for Tardiness. Once the employee has been placed on notice, it is appropriate to charge tardies to LWOP or AWOL, unless there are extenuating circumstances.