Configuring and Recording Breaks and Lunch Print

Employee Time Logger records normal breaks and lunch separately. Employees may record live Start/End events, while completed manual shifts use total minutes for each category.

Required access: An Administrator configures policies. Employees and kiosk users see only the actions enabled for them.

Choose the operating model first

• Live events: employees select Start Break, End Break, Start Lunch, and End Lunch during a shift.
• Manual totals: employees entering a completed shift provide total Break Minutes and total Lunch Minutes.
• Paid time away: eligible break or lunch events remain recorded but do not reduce payable minutes.
• Automatic lunch deduction: the system applies the configured lunch amount to a qualifying completed shift when required recorded lunch is missing or short.

Decide which model matches written company policy before turning on controls.

Enable break and lunch features

1. Go to Time Logger > Settings > Features.
2. Enable the Lunch and meal policies master switch.
3. Expand the card.
4. Enable Break tracking to show Start/End Break on the normal employee clock.
5. Enable Lunch tracking to show Start/End Lunch.
6. Enable Paid time-away choice only when employees are allowed to identify eligible time away as paid.
7. Enable Automatic lunch deductions only after configuring and testing the detailed threshold.
8. Enable Missed-lunch rules when the system should detect short or missing required lunches.
9. Select Save feature controls.

Enable kiosk buttons separately

1. On the same Features page, enable Shared kiosk.
2. Expand the Shared Kiosk card.
3. Enable Break buttons and Lunch buttons.
4. Also enable Clock in and out.
5. Save and reload the kiosk page.

The normal employee clock and shared kiosk have separate action controls. Enabling Break Tracking does not automatically show kiosk Break buttons.

Configure the meal policy

1. Go to Time Logger > Settings > Workforce Policies.
2. Find Lunch and Meal Policy.
3. Enable the detailed policy when the organization will use deductions or missed-lunch review.
4. Enter the qualifying shift length in minutes. Example: 300 minutes means a five-hour shift.
5. Enter the required lunch duration in minutes. Example: 30.
6. Choose whether to apply an automatic deduction when recorded lunch is shorter than required.
7. Choose whether employees may mark an eligible event as paid.
8. Choose whether managers should be alerted about missed required lunch.
9. Select Save policies.

How payable time is calculated

Gross shift time is the duration from clock-in to clock-out. Break and lunch events marked Deduct from shift reduce the payable total. Paid events remain visible in the event history but do not reduce payable time.

Example: An 8:00 AM–4:30 PM shift is 510 gross minutes. If the employee records 20 break minutes and 30 lunch minutes, payable time is 460 minutes, or 7 hours 40 minutes, unless company policy marks some time away as paid.

Employee live procedure

1. Clock in.
2. Select Start break when break begins, then End break on return.
3. Select Start lunch when lunch begins, then End lunch on return.
4. Never start a break while lunch is active or start lunch while a break is active.
5. End the active event before Clock Out.

Manual completed shifts

The manual form does not request break or lunch start/end times. It requests two totals:

• Break minutes: total minutes from all normal breaks during the shift.
• Lunch minutes: total minutes from all lunch periods during the shift.

Example: two 10-minute breaks and a 45-minute lunch are entered as Break Minutes = 20 and Lunch Minutes = 45. Combined time away must be shorter than the gross shift.

Automatic deduction behavior

When enabled, a qualifying completed shift can receive the required lunch deduction when insufficient lunch was recorded. The deduction is stored as an explainable lunch event rather than silently changing break minutes. Managers should review exceptions and employee correction requests rather than assuming an automatic deduction always represents what occurred.

Enable missed-lunch alerts

1. Enable Missed-Lunch Rules under Lunch and Meal Policies.
2. Enable the Workforce Notifications master feature.
3. Expand it and enable Missed lunch.
4. Open Settings > Notifications and configure related notification delivery.
5. Confirm scheduled monitoring under Tools > System Status.

Test the policy before launch

1. Create one shift shorter than the lunch threshold and confirm no required-lunch result.
2. Create one shift longer than the threshold with a complete lunch.
3. Create one qualifying shift with a short lunch.
4. Create one qualifying shift with no lunch.
5. Compare event history, calculated hours, exceptions, notifications, and payroll totals.

Troubleshooting

Policy notice: Meal and rest requirements vary by jurisdiction, employee classification, collective bargaining agreement, and policy. These controls assist recordkeeping and do not provide legal advice.