Workplace access links explained

When you send an invoice or a booking confirmation through Sessional, the email that lands in the workplace inbox carries a secure link back to a Sessional-hosted page. The finance officer, the roster coordinator, or whoever you addressed it to clicks through and sees the detail laid out clearly: who the invoice is from, the total in Australian dollars, the line items, and any note you attached. There is no sign-up, no password, and no Sessional account to create. The link itself is the key.

Invoice links live at /w/inv/<token> and booking links at /w/bkg/<token>. The token is signed and expires 30 days after generation. These pages ask search engines not to index them. Anyone who receives a forwarded link can use it while it remains valid.

From an invoice link the recipient can:

• View invoice details: invoice number, issue and due dates, line items, the total due, your payment reference, and any note you left.
• Mark paid: tell you the money has been sent or is scheduled, with an optional reference or note (for example, the date and bank reference they used).
• Raise dispute: explain in a few sentences what is wrong, for example a wrong amount or a shift that was not worked.

From a booking link the recipient can:

• View the booking: date, start and end times in the workplace timezone, the agreed rate, and your site notes.
• Acknowledge booking, so you have a record the workplace saw and accepted the booking detail.
• Raise dispute: to say “we did not book this” before the shift happens, while there is still time to sort it out.

Booking links can also offer Send a message for accepted booking requests on Plus or Pro. Invoice links have the separate Mark paid action; recording a claim does not transfer money.

The reason for the two-step is practical. Workplaces are not Sessional users, and a busy finance team can pay the wrong invoice, the wrong amount, or reference the wrong job. If a click silently marked the invoice Paid, it could quietly distort your payment records. So the claim is just a signal: the workplace tells you what they have done, and you decide what is true.

When a workplace submits a claim, you get a notification in your in-app inbox and a row appears in the “Needs your attention” area of your dashboard. From there you check your bank and either confirm the payment, which moves the invoice to Paid on both sides, or dismiss it, which clears the claim and allows auto-chasers to resume if the invoice is otherwise eligible. Repeat clicks do not create another pending paid claim.

When a workplace raises a dispute on an invoice, three things happen:

• An open dispute record is created against that invoice, with the reason they typed (between 5 and 500 characters).
• The invoice moves to Disputed, which makes it ineligible for automated invoice chasers.
• You receive an in-app notification, and the dashboard attention panel includes an open-dispute count.

Only one dispute is open at a time per invoice. If the workplace submits again, the existing record is updated rather than a second dispute being created. Updates can still generate notifications. Open the invoice detail to respond: resolving the dispute leaves the invoice Disputed, while rejecting it returns the invoice to Issued or Overdue. Chasers also depend on your plan, preferences and the invoice being eligible.

Booking disputes work the same way on the workplace side, but a booking has no Disputed shift status, so raising one simply creates the record and notifies you. The point is to catch a problem early, before the shift, so you can cancel or correct it. See booking messaging for the back-and-forth that often resolves these before they become a formal dispute.

You control every link you send. If you addressed an invoice to the wrong email, or a finance contact has left the workplace, use Revoke workplace access link on the invoice, or Withdraw link on the shift. Once withdrawn, the old URL stops opening the record and its actions are rejected. Revocation is specific to that invoice or booking. It does not close links for other records.

Withdrawing access does not recall an email or remove a PDF or other copy the recipient has already saved.

Each link uses an HMAC-SHA256 signature covering the record and expiry. The server checks that signature before opening the record or accepting an action. Treat the link as access to the invoice or booking, including any notes shown on that page.

Payment-claim and dispute endpoints apply rate limits by record and source address. Because the link is the key, treat it like one: it is meant for the inbox you addressed, and the on-page guidance asks workplaces not to share it publicly. Invoice links are available on Free, Plus and Pro. Sending booking confirmations manually and creating schedules require Plus or Pro; accepting a public request also attempts to send a booking link.