The latest version of V9.0 doesn't seem to send a message when an employee puts in a new Leave Request. There is a git commit from 26 Oct (2be1dfc) which references some changes to auto subscription. The manager is a follower of the department but still doesn't receive the messages.
I've rolled back the affected files (I don't really want to do this as it'll get overwritten when I update), and now the manager is added as a follower of the request but still doesn't receive a message (confirmed by looking at the Recipients and Partners with Need Action in the Messages list in Developer Mode.
What is very strange is that if you change the User from Employee to HR Officer then the message does get sent to the manager?
In summary, I'd like the manager to receive a message when an employee requests leave.