check workitem approval status

You should be able to do something along the lines of....

        IWorkItemClient workItemClient= (IWorkItemClient)teamRepository.getClientLibrary(IWorkItemClient.class);
        IWorkItemWorkingCopyManager manager= workItemClient.getWorkItemWorkingCopyManager();
        manager.connect(workItemHandle, IWorkItem.SMALL_PROFILE, progress.newChild(20));
        IWorkItem workItem= null;
        try {
            WorkItemWorkingCopy copy= manager.getWorkingCopy(workItemHandle);
            workItem= copy.getWorkItem();
           
            workItem.getApprovals().getContents();