Raken gives you flexibility to capture and enforce breaks depending on your company's requirements or the state you're working in. Break rules are configured inside your Time Policy and apply automatically to all employees assigned to that policy — including when a break becomes required, how it's flagged if it's missed, short, or late, whether it's automatically deducted, and whether early clock-ins are blocked outright.

Breaks are configured inside Time Policies, which require the Performance Plan.

To configure breaks for a Time Policy:

Nothing here is on by default — a break type only starts generating alerts once you add at least one Break requirement to it, and auto-deduction and lockout are each opt-in per break type.

This feature is available on the Raken web app only.

Log into the Raken web app. Click Company in the left navigation, then click Time settings > Policies. Click Edit policy on the policy you want to configure, then click Breaks in the policy left navigation.

The default break types are pre-loaded: Rest break (10 min default, 5 min minimum, paid) and Meal break (30 min default, 30 min minimum, unpaid). The list shows: Types, Default duration, Minimum duration, Compensation, Auto-deduction, Requirements, and Enabled. If you've added Break requirements, turned on auto-deduction, or turned on break lockout for a break type, that shows here too — for example, the Minimum duration column will note "Break lockout enforced" under the duration for any break type with lockout on.

Use the toggle on the right of each break type to activate or deactivate it for this policy.

Click the pencil icon next to any break type to open the edit modal. From here you configure everything for that break type — duration, auto-deduction, lockout, and Break requirements — in one place.

Toggle Auto-deduction on to have Raken automatically deduct this break when it's missing, instead of leaving it for a supervisor to catch and fix manually. When on, a duration field appears for the amount of time to deduct. This is off by default and configured per break type — see "How Automatic Break Deduction Works" below for the full behavior.

Toggle Enforce break lockout on to hard-block early clock-ins for this break type at Time Clock and Kiosk. When on, a worker cannot end the break and clock back in until the Minimum duration has elapsed. This is off by default and reuses the Minimum duration already set above — there's no separate duration to configure for lockout. See "How Break Lockout Works" below for the full behavior.

Click + Add under Break requirements to define when this break becomes mandatory. Each requirement has two fields:

You can add more than one requirement to the same break type — for example, a first meal break required for shifts over 6 hours, and a second meal break required for shifts over 10 hours. Click the X next to a requirement to remove it.

Until you add at least one Break requirement, that break type shows "No requirements set" and no alerts will fire for it — adding a requirement is what turns on alerting for that break type. Auto-deduction and lockout are independent of alerting — you can turn either on without configuring a Break requirement.

Click the orange Save button. The updated break settings apply to all future time cards for employees assigned to this policy.

Once a break type has at least one Break requirement configured, Raken automatically flags entries that don't meet it. There are three alert types:

Alerts only appear on saved, completed entries — never while a time card is still being created. They rerun every time an entry is saved: an edit that fixes the issue clears the alert, and an edit that introduces one raises it. This applies uniformly whether the entry came from a manual time card, Supervisor Clock, Time Clock, or Kiosk.

Alerts cannot be dismissed — the only way to clear one is to fix the underlying time card (add the missing break, correct the duration, etc.).

Where alerts show up:

See Raken Time Clock Geolocation Verification and Reporting for the full Issues page breakdown.

When Auto-deduction is on for a break type, Raken automatically applies the configured deduction the moment a timecard is saved or a worker clocks out — it's live processing, not an overnight batch. It only fires for a Missing Break; Short and Late breaks still surface as Break Alerts (above) but are never auto-adjusted.

Auto-deduction is built for accounts in non-mandatory-break states — it's a payroll convenience that assumes the break happened, rather than confirming it. If you operate in California, New York, Colorado, or another state with mandatory break requirements, rely on Break Alerts (above) to validate that breaks were actually taken, rather than auto-deduction alone.

When Enforce break lockout is on for a break type, a worker who tries to clock back in before the Minimum duration has elapsed sees a message explaining why, and cannot proceed:

"This break is required to be at least [X] minutes to be compliant. If you need to clock in before the minimum, please contact your supervisor."

No. Breaks are configured inside Time Policies, which require the Performance Plan. Basic plan accounts don't have Time Policies or Time Cards.

No. Changes apply only to time cards created after the change is saved.

Yes. Assign a different Time Policy to a specific project using project-level exceptions. See Enabling and Managing Project-Level Time Policy Exceptions. When a project has its own policy with at least one Break requirement configured, and the full shift falls under that one policy, break rules are evaluated against the project's policy. Otherwise, the employee's assigned policy is used.

Yes. When Time Clock is enabled, employees can log breaks directly from their device. The break types available are determined by the breaks configured in their assigned Time Policy.

Paid breaks count toward total hours for the day. Unpaid breaks are deducted. This affects overtime calculations — configure compensation type carefully to ensure accurate payroll.

Confirm the break type has at least one Break requirement configured with a "Shift longer than" value set — that's what turns alerting on. Also check that you're looking at a saved, completed entry; alerts don't show during time card creation.

Late Break only fires when "Must start before" is set on the requirement. Without a deadline, only Missing and Short Break alerts apply.

Yes. Add a second Break requirement to the same break type with a longer "Shift longer than" threshold — for example, a first meal required over 6 hours and a second over 10 hours.

No. There are no pre-built state-law templates — you configure Break requirements to match your own company's policies and applicable law. This is intentional: Raken is a policy tool, not a compliance authority, and doesn't want to imply it's giving legal guidance on what your break rules should be.

No. Break lockout, auto-deduction, and Break Alerts are policy tools that enforce the rules you configure and create a record — they don't determine whether your company is legally compliant. You're responsible for making sure your configured policies reflect the laws that apply to you.

No — they're independent. You can enable break lockout or auto-deduction on a break type with no Break requirements configured, and you can configure Break requirements without ever turning on lockout or auto-deduction. Turn on whichever pieces fit your situation.

A Missing Break only. If a break was recorded but too short (Short Break) or started late (Late Break), those still surface as Break Alerts, but Raken never auto-adjusts the entry for them.

No. There's no approval gate — the deduction is applied automatically and shown with a lightning-bolt icon. A supervisor only needs to act if they want to change or remove it, through the standard Edit time card flow.

No in-app dispute button. Disputes are handled directly between the worker and their supervisor — the supervisor edits the entry through the normal flow, and that change is captured in the events log.

Yes. Every auto-deduction and every break lockout override is recorded in a read-only events log under Review > Events. Combined with the worker's signed timecard, this is your defensibility record.

Auto-deduction is built for non-mandatory-break states — it assumes a missing break happened without confirming it did. In mandatory-break states, lead with Break Alerts (Detection) to validate that breaks actually occurred, rather than relying on auto-deduction alone.

Yes, the indicator does — but the auto-deduction itself doesn't. A worker or supervisor on an older app version still gets the missing break auto-deducted correctly; they just won't see the lightning-bolt icon confirming it until they update the app. Check app version before treating a missing indicator as a bug.

Feel free to email us or call us at +1 866-438-0646. We're always glad to answer your questions!