Shift spacing rules

A shift spacing rule pays a penalty rate when the break between two shifts is too short, for example double time when a worker comes back within 10 hours of finishing.

Shift spacing rules belong to a rule group: open the pay rate document, select the Rule Groups tab, and find Shift Spacing Rules.

Add a shift spacing rule

1. Under Shift Spacing Rules, select Add Shift Spacing Rule.
2. Leave Enabled on at the top of the dialog.
3. Enter a Rule Name and optionally a Description.
4. Choose a Cost Code for the penalty line. It doesn't change the amount, but it decides how the penalty is coded in exports. With none, the line is exported with no cost code (shown as -), not with the classification's overtime code.
5. Enter the Minimum Gap Hours. The rule applies when the gap between the end of one shift and the start of the next is less than this. Timesheets less than 2 hours apart count as one shift, so a day split around a 1-hour lunch is not a short rest: the gap is measured from the end of the previous shift to the start of the first timesheet of this one. A leave day is not a shift, including a timesheet a leave rule matches by its role or activities, so the gap is measured from the last worked shift before it. For a rule that pays a second shift on the same day, see below.
6. Optionally set conditions on the previous shift and exclusions (below).
7. Under Rate Modification, choose the Rate Type, Multiplier or Fixed Rate, and enter the value, such as a Multiplier Value of 2.
8. Choose whether to Apply to Entire Shift (see below).
9. Select Save.

To change or remove a rule, open its menu and select Edit or Delete.

Which hours get the penalty

• With Apply to Entire Shift on, every hour of the next shift is paid at the penalty rate.
• With it off, only as many hours as the gap was short get the penalty, and the rest of the shift is paid normally. With a 10-hour minimum and an 8-hour gap, 2 hours are paid at the penalty rate.

If more than one rule matches, only the first one in the list is used. The # column shows the order. To change it, open a rule's menu and select Move up or Move down. If the first matching rule pays less than the shift's current rates, no shift spacing rate is applied, and the timesheet shows a warning naming the lower rules that also matched.

Pay a second shift on the same day

Some agreements pay the whole of a second shift worked on the same day at a penalty rate, however long the break before it.

1. Add a shift spacing rule and choose the cost code for the second shift.
2. Turn on Same work date only. Break between shifts fills in 2 hours.
3. Leave Minimum Gap Hours blank to apply the rule whatever the gap, or enter hours to apply it only when the break is also shorter than that. The hours must be more than the Break between shifts, because every break between two shifts is at least that long.
4. Enter the Multiplier Value, such as 2. With no minimum gap, Apply to Entire Shift stays on.

Timesheets on the same day less than the Break between shifts apart count as one shift, so a day split around a 1-hour lunch is not a second shift. The day is the timesheet's date: a night shift that starts on Monday and finishes on Tuesday belongs to Monday, so a shift that starts on Tuesday is not a second shift after it.

The previous shift conditions read the whole previous shift. If it was two 4-hour timesheets, Minimum Previous Shift Hours sees 8 hours. Leave timesheets on the day are not shifts, so leave in the morning does not make the afternoon a second shift.

The rule doesn't apply when another timesheet that day is missing its start or finish time or its times can't be trusted, or this timesheet's times were filled in because none were recorded. The timesheet then shows a warning. Fix the times and reprocess the timesheet.

A second shift after a short break can also match a rule such as a 10-hour break rule. Move the same-day rule above it, so the second shift gets the same-day rule's cost code.

Split the penalty across two cost codes

Some agreements code the first hours of the penalised shift differently from the rest, for example the first 7.6 hours with superannuation and the hours after them exempt. To do this, turn Apply to Entire Shift on, then in the cost code section:

1. Enter the cap in Hours on this cost code, such as 7.6, up to 24 hours. Leave it blank to keep every penalty hour on the rule's cost code.
2. Choose the cost code for the remaining hours under After the cap. A cap can't be saved without it.

A 10-hour shift then has two penalty lines: 7.6 hours on the rule's cost code and 2.4 hours on the after-cap cost code. Both are paid at the same rate, so the total is the same as with one line. The exception is a worker pay item: one on either cost code sets that line's hourly rate, as it does for any line on that cost code. A shift of 7.6 hours or less keeps one line. The cap counts paid hours in the order they were worked, and it isn't available when Apply to Entire Shift is off: if you turn it off, saving removes the cap and its after-cap cost code.

The cap counts the whole shift, even when the shift is on more than one timesheet. Timesheets with a break of less than 2 hours between them count as one shift, so a 6-hour timesheet followed by another 6-hour one after a 30-minute break gets 7.6 hours on the rule's cost code in total: 6 hours on the first and 1.6 on the second, then 4.4 hours on the after-cap cost code. A break of 2 hours or more starts a new shift, which gets its own 7.6 hours. An earlier timesheet in the shift counts in full, whether or not it was paid the penalty itself. A timesheet without its own start and finish times, for example one whose times were filled in because none were recorded, isn't joined to a shift, so it starts its own 7.6 hours. If you change an earlier timesheet in a shift, reprocess the later ones too so their split is updated.

The after-cap line reports under the same pay category as the rule's cost code, such as Double Time, even if the after-cap cost code sits in a different category. Two exceptions report it as Overtime, as the rule's own line would be: a rule with no cost code of its own, and hours a cost code threshold rule moves to its cost code. If the rule's cost code can't be read when pay is calculated, the timesheet shows a calculation warning and the line reports as Overtime; reprocess it once the cost code is fixed.

Pay categories are separate from how a cost code threshold rule counts hours: for the threshold, shift spacing hours always count as Overtime 1. If the rule group has a threshold rule that lists Overtime 1, penalty hours past its threshold change to its cost code, whichever of the two cost codes they were on.

A cap that can't apply, because Apply to Entire Shift is off or there is no after-cap cost code, is shown in the rules list as not applied, and every timesheet that gets the penalty shows a calculation warning. All its penalty hours stay on the rule's cost code until you fix the rule and reprocess.

Conditions

Under Previous Shift Conditions (Optional), every condition you set must be met:

• Minimum Previous Shift Hours: the previous shift must have been at least this long. Leave it at Any for no minimum.
• Previous Shift Ended After and Previous Shift Ended Before: the previous shift must have ended after or before a time of day.

Under Activity/Role Exclusions, Exclude Activities and Exclude Roles leave activities (such as travel) or shifts in some roles out of the previous shift's hours.

Under Client/Project Conditions, turn on Same Client or Same Project to apply the rule only when both shifts are for the same client or project.

An uncoded penalty line is still labelled with the rule's name in the Summary View and calendar. In an export, add the Shift Rule column, which is off by default, to tell these lines apart from other lines with no cost code; the Pay Item column shows - for all of them.

Penalty lines on older timesheets can show the overtime cost code, because uncoded penalties used to take it. They keep it until you apply pay rates again. If your payroll system maps lines by cost code, give the rule a cost code before you do, or the penalties will arrive with no code.

Example

A rule with Minimum Gap Hours 10, a Multiplier Value of 2 and Apply to Entire Shift on. A worker finishes at 10 pm and starts again at 6 am, an 8-hour gap. The whole 6 am shift is paid at double time. With Apply to Entire Shift off, 2 of its hours would be.