California Labor Compliance - More Tools

The following tools can help manage California labor exceptions even further, by verifying that employees are aware of missed breaks and have waived them where allowed in 7shifts.

• Automatically Dismiss Waived Meal Breaks: Automates the dismissal of waived meal breaks under specific circumstances.
• Employee Attestation: Employees confirm if they missed breaks.
• Custom Attestation: Adds flexibility to customize attestation questions to better fit your compliance needs.

Things to Know 

• These features are only available for those using 7punches and may require an upgrade from your current plan.
• Only Admins can access Company Settings and enable these tools.
• Shifts longer than 12 hours won't have missed meal breaks auto-dismissed.

Automatically Dismiss Waived Meal Breaks

Reduce the time needed to process payroll with automated meal break dismissals. When an employee misses a meal break and has a qualifying waiver on file, 7shifts can automatically dismiss that break on your Time Clocking page.

How it Works

For auto-dismissal to apply, the punch must include an affirmative attestation response, and the conditions below must be met.

Meal Break 1 auto-dismissal

The system auto-dismisses a missed first meal break when:

• The employee has a Meal Break 1 waiver on file, and
• The shift is between 5 and 6 hours long.

Meal Break 2 auto-dismissal

If an employee took their first meal break but missed their second, the missed second meal break can be auto-dismissed when:

• The employee has a Meal Break 2 waiver on file, and
• The first meal break was taken (at least 30 minutes) and started within the first 5 hours of the shift, and
• The shift is between 10 and 12 hours long.

How to Enable Automatically Dismiss Waived Meal Breaks

From Company Settings

1. Log into the web app as an Admin.
2. In the left navigation bar, select Settings > Company Settings. On the Company Settings page, select Labor & Compliance.
3. Under Advanced Labor, enable Meal breaks.
4. Check Automatically dismiss waived meal breaks.
   
5. Click Save.

From an Employee Profile

1. In the left navigation bar, select Team > Employees.
2. Search for an employee and click their name to open their profile.
3. Select Employment from the left-hand menu.
4. Check the waiver(s) that apply to the employee.
   
5. Click Save.

How to Revert Auto-dismissed Meal Breaks

1. In the left navigation bar, click Time Clocking and select a pay period. Once the pay period expands, click the pencil icon next to the punch you want to edit.
2. In the Punch Overview, click Auto-dismissed meal break.
3. Click Revert auto-dismissed meal break and confirm the warning:
    
4. Click Save.

Automatically Dismissed Meal Breaks in Reports

When you're ready to review this information, go to your Punch Audit Report. Auto-dismissed meal breaks appear for each employee within the specified date range.

If a punch has been edited, the auto-dismissed meal break becomes obsolete and will be recorded in the report accordingly.

Employee Attestation

Through 7punches, Employee Attestation requires employees to confirm whether they:

• Took their breaks in accordance with the policy
• Had the opportunity to take all of their breaks, but freely chose not to
• Were prevented from taking their breaks

Attestation occurs at employee punch-out. This data is available in the Labor Exceptions Report, accessible to Managers and Admins.

How to Enable Employee Attestation

1. Go to Settings > Company Settings > Labor & Compliance.
2. Check Attestation > Save.
3. (optional) In the Policy Link field, you can link your company's break policy so employees can access it on the Attestation modal when they punch out.

Once an employee punches out, they'll be prompted to attest to their breaks. They can toggle between English and Spanish from the dropdown in the top right corner:

 

How Attestation Maps to Reporting

When an employee selects an attestation response at punch-out, that selection is recorded in the Labor Exceptions Report. Use the table below to see how employee responses map to report statuses.

Customize Attestation

Admins can customize the attestation experience by adjusting:

• The attestation question
• The answers to the attestation question
• The number of answer options (2 or 3)
• Language

How to Enable Custom Attestation

1. Go to Settings > Company Settings > Labor & Compliance.
2. Check Attestation.
3. Click Customize Attestation.
4. Under each tab, enter the details for your custom questions and responses.

5. Click Save.

RELATED ARTICLES

California Labor Compliance
Labor Exceptions Report
Exceptions Costs in Labor Calculations & Reports
Getting Started: 7punches and Time Clocking