Ruling on granting permission to an employee who shirks from work

Q: Some employees shirk from work because they have other personal interests outside of their job. They ask their supervisor for permission and fabricate excuses, which are often convincing or not. If the supervisor knows that the excuses are not valid, does he sin by granting the employee permission?

A: It is not permissible for the head of a department, its manager, or whoever acts in their place to approve something they believe to be invalid. Rather, he must investigate whether there is a dire necessity for the request due to a pressing need, and if the permission does not harm the work, there is no harm in it. As for excuses that he knows are invalid, or that he strongly suspects are invalid, his supervisor must not grant him permission or approve it; because that is a betrayal of the trust and a failure to give sincere advice to the one who entrusted him and to the Muslims. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and this is a trust, and Allah says: the verse [al-Nisa: 58] and He says in describing the believers: [al-Mu'minun: 8] and He says: [al-Anfal: 27].