How do I Track Worked Lunch Breaks?

The Worked Lunch Break checkbox on the timesheet flags shifts where a worker kept working through their allotted breaktime. When checked, the break minutes are still paid and counted toward productivity.

How It Works

Each shift row has a break minutes input and a Worked Lunch Break checkbox.

Unchecked (default): Break minutes are subtracted from total shift hours.

6:00 AM – 6:00 PM, 30 min break, ☐ unchecked → 11.5 hrs productivity

Checked: Break minutes are added back into total shift hours and distributed evenly across productivity rows on the shift. The break input locks at the value entered.

6:00 AM – 6:00 PM, 30 min break, ☑ checked → 12 hrs productivity

Bulk edit

When bulk-editing break time, each field (break duration, worked lunch break) has its own toggle. Only fields with the toggle on get applied to the selected shifts.

By default: break duration is on, worked lunch break is off.

Worked Lunch Break with OT/DT Payment Profile Rules

Overtime rules may require that when a worker doesn't take their meal break, the worked break time is paid as OT or DT, regardless of where the worker is in their daily/weekly hours.

If your Payment Profile has a worked-lunch-break OT or DT rule, here's how it works when the checkbox is checked:

The break minutes are added back to total shift hours.
Those minutes are paid at the OT or DT rate defined on the payment profile.
The premium minutes attach to the productivity row with the most hours. If two rows have equal hours, they're assigned to the first row chronologically.

Example: Worker with rule that WLB = Overtime

Shift: 6:00 AM – 2:30 PM, 30 min break, ☑ Worked Lunch Break
Payment profile: "Worked lunch break = DT"
Productivity: Cost Code A = 6.5 hrs, Cost Code B = 2 hrs

Result: 8.5 paid hrs total. The 0.5 hr break is paid at overtime and attached to Cost Code A (the row with the most hours). The remaining 8 hrs follow the rest of the payment profile rules.

ℹ️If a worker has multiple productivity rows with the same amount of hours, the premium portion from the worked lunch break will apply to the first productivity row of their shift.

Without an OT/DT rule

The checkbox still works as a simple flag for "this person worked through their break, pay them for it." Without an OT/DT rule, the added break minutes are paid at the regular rate (or OT, if the worker is already in OT for the day/week).

Users can also leave the breaktime at 0 minutes and use the checkbox as a flag for why the shift does not have a break.