A vacation and sick leave tracker keeps two balances side by side because the two kinds of day behave differently: vacation is planned, requested and approved against the calendar; sick days arrive on the morning, are recorded after the fact and, in many businesses, come from a separate allowance or accrue at their own rate. One tracker with two columns shows the manager who is off today for either reason and what each person has left of each. The vacation schedule template on this site sizes the year's vacation, cover and carryover; the subscription keeps both balances and the calendar they share.
Two balances, each with its own rules
Vacation has an entitlement or an accrual, a request and an approval, and a carryover rule; sick leave has its own allowance where the business or the state provides one, is recorded when it is taken, and usually does not carry over in the same way. Keep the two columns separate on the tracker so a run of sick days never quietly eats the vacation balance, and so the year-end figures for each are read on their own.
One calendar shows both
The cover question does not care why someone is out: the front desk is empty either way. The calendar marks vacation and sick days with different types on the same view, so the manager sees the team's real availability and can call cover when a sick day lands on a day two others have approved vacation. Sick days recorded after the fact appear the same day they are entered.
Which is it, and who decides
A day is vacation if it was requested and approved in advance, and sick if it was reported on the day; the tracker records which, and the policy the business writes decides what happens to a vacation day that becomes sickness. The tracker does not make that call; it keeps the record that lets the manager make it consistently, and exports both balances when the accountant asks.
Questions people ask about vacation and sick leave tracker
Should vacation and sick leave share one balance?
Only where the business runs a single paid-time-off pool by policy; otherwise keep two balances, since they accrue, carry over and are recorded differently.
How is a sick day recorded?
On the day or the day after, by the manager or the employee, against the sick balance, with the date; no request or approval is needed the way vacation needs one.
What if someone falls ill during approved vacation?
The tracker records what the policy says: some businesses convert the days to sick leave on evidence, others do not. Write the rule once and apply it the same way each time.