Creating Meal Window Policies

From the main "Admin" tab, click on the "Meal Policies" link located under the Policies heading. Locate the Meal Window Policies 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. Enter the Start Time and the End Time of the meal window. This is the range of time during which employees are allowed to take their lunch break. Any punch entered during this range of time will be considered lunch punches, and any automatically generated meal will be overridden.
3. Enter the Window Duration in minutes. This is the number of minutes during which any punch at the clock will be perceived by the system as a "meal/lunch" punch.
   Note: This setting automatically populates based on your start and end time settings.
4. Enter the Deduction Amount in "HH:MM" format. This is the amount that will be deducted from the employee's Time Card when no punches are entered during the specified meal window.
5. 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.
6. 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."
7. 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.
8. 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 Window Policies 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

• 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.