Breaks

This article was last updated on December 4, 2024.

Skip ahead if you're an employee.

Skip to details about the newest break function: Attestation.

Skip to details about the Premium pay setting.

To adjust your company's Breaks settings, you must be an admin of an account. Managers will be able to see how the settings have been configured but do not have access to change settings.

From your Dashboard or name, select Settings > Schedule. Scroll down to the Breaks section of the schedule settings.

You'll see there are options for Break type, Break category, and Default break duration.

You have the option to enable Standard breaks or Automated breaks.

Note: Like many of the account settings, the break settings options can only be accessed through the web at this time.

It is also important to understand that enabling automated breaks does not mean that the breaks will automatically be counted on timesheets. Employees will still need to start and end their breaks using the time clock in order for Sling to register them correctly.

Once the Automated breaks function has been selected, you can indicate the details for how Meal breaks and Rest breaks will operate when they are activated.

Indicate whether each type of break you enable is paid or unpaid. Then you can set the automation rules.

For example, if your region's labor laws require staff to receive a rest break for every 4 hours that they work, you would enter that criteria within the Rest break details:

In the example above, employees' rest breaks will be counted as paid time, and staff will be able to start a rest break after they have worked at least two hours of their shift. (You can scroll down to see examples of what break notifications look like from an employee's perspective.)

You can also indicate whether you would like to permit employees to complete their breaks earlier than scheduled by toggling on the option for Early return. The early return option is available for each type of break that you enable.

For automated breaks users, there is also the option to enable attestation, which allows your employees to attest to taking their required meal and/or rest breaks. This means that if employees miss a break during their shift and attempt to clock out, they will be prompted to answer if they took their required break or were prevented from taking their break. In addition, you can enable the waiver setting, which will allow your employee to select that they opted out of taking their required break.

You must enable automated breaks in order to enable attestation. It will not be available to standard break users.

Premium pay is an additional setting that will support customers in staying compliant with their local labor laws. If there are break violations according to automated break rules that have been set, this setting will pay an additional hour of pay equivalent to the employee's hourly wage.

This feature will be available to Sling Premium and Business customers and Toast-integrated customers on the Scheduling Pro plan. The premium pay setting is located in the same place as the other break settings in the Settings > Schedule page of Sling:

Note that you can indicate whether each type of break should follow the premium pay rule, according to the regulations in your region.

Timesheets will show discrepancies or potential violations in red. This provides an opportunity for you to review break policies with employees when you notice patterns, or to make adjustments to break procedures to ensure that your staff is in compliance.

If automated breaks have been enabled for your company, employees will receive reminders to take their breaks according to the length of their shifts, and the rules applied.

Employees will clock into shifts as normal. After two hours have passed, employees will see the option to start their break. When they start their break, they will also have the option to choose which type of break to start if both meal breaks and rest breaks are enabled.

For accounts that have both meal and rest breaks, employees can choose to start their rest break or their meal break:

When you begin a break, you'll see what time you started, so that you can keep track of when you'll need to return to work.

You'll also receive reminders that your break is ending.

If you attempt to end your break too early and your employer does not allow for the early ending of breaks, you will get a notice indicating that you have more time left on your break:

When you clock out at the end of your shift, you'll notice any breaks you did not take (or that you ended earlier) highlighted in red.

That way if there is something you need to provide details about, you can include a note within your timesheet for managers to review.

Additionally, when you clock out of your shift, if your Sling account admin has enabled break attestation, then you will be prompted to answer questions to verify that you have taken all of the mandatory breaks.

You will need to respond to both prompts in order to proceed with clocking out of your shift.

All employees will be able to see Dashboard notifications within the Sling app, but you also have to enable push notifications in order to receive reminders directly on your smartphone.

Learn how to adjust your notification settings to make sure you're receiving push notifications from Sling here.

Learn how to edit a timesheet as an admin here, and how to edit a timesheet as an employee here.