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, and whether early clock-ins are blocked outright.

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.

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 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, lockout, and Break requirements — in one place.

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.

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 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. 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 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 on a break type with no Break requirements configured, and you can configure Break requirements without ever turning on lockout. Turn on whichever pieces fit your situation.

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