Creating Floating Meal Window Policies

From the main "Admin" tab, click on the "Meal Policies" link located under the Policies heading. Locate the Meal Floating Window section of the screen and click on the [ADD] icon.

1. Enter a Name for this policy as you would like it to appear in the program.
2. The Required Worked Hours is the amount of time that must be worked before the system will begin to check for meals taken.
3. The Time from First Punch Duration setting allows you to enter the amount of time from the first punch of the day. The system will take the first punch and add the specified hour amount to determine the end time of the floating meal window.
4. The Window Duration adds the amount of time to track once employees have met the worked hours requirements. The system will take the Time from First Punch Duration setting and subtract the specified Window Duration. This signifies the start time of the floating meal window.
5. The Deduction Amount is the amount of time given to employees for their meal period. The system will expect punches of this amount within the starting and ending times of the floating meal window.
6. The Increase Window by Non-Worked Hours setting specifies that the meal window is to be increased by any non-worked time within the Time from First Punch Duration.

7. When Punch Rounding is in use, the Based on Unrounded Time option specifies that meal breaks are to be determined by the original unrounded punches.

8. Select the Auto Deduct option if you would like a meal break to be automatically deducted when an employee does not punch at the clock. With this option de-selected, no automatic deduction will occur, but the policy will still be used to generate "Short/Long Lunch" punch errors on the employee's Time Card.

9. Select the Force Full Deduction option if you would like the system to automatically deduct the remainder of the lunch break when the employee clocks out for less than the specified "Deduction Amount."

10. The Only Lunch Punches option is used with Job Transfer Punching. With this option enabled, the automatic lunch deduction will only be overridden if the punches entered during the meal window are flagged as "Lunch" punches (either from the clock keypad, or through direct system entry). This allows employees to enter job transfer punches at the clock during the meal window without overriding their automatic lunch deduction.

11. If you would like the Meal Policy to award time to employee Time Cards if the Meal Policy is not met, select the desired Minimum Hours Deduction Policy from the drop-down menu.

Click on the [SAVE] icon to save the Meal Policy.

Editing and Deleting Existing Meal Policies

Each policy that you have entered into the system is displayed on the main Meal Policies screen under the Meal Floating Window heading.

Policy settings are displayed as columns in the table. Click on the link in the Name column to edit policy settings.

Click on the icon to delete a Meal Policy.
Note: Policies that are currently assigned to employees cannot be deleted from the system.

Related Topics

• The option of using unrounded time refers to Rounding Policies in the system.
• This type of Meal Policy allows you to award time to an employee's Time Card using a Minimum Hours Policy. Note that only policies that are set up with a specified type of "Meal or Break Deduction" will be available for selection.