How to Configure Meal Break Rules
Meal break rules control allowances, overtime, and penalties related to meal breaks. These ensure employees are compensated correctly when breaks are missed, shortened, or when work extends beyond a threshold before a break is taken.
- Open Awards from the main navigation.
- Select or create an award, then open the Rules step (Step 4).
- Select the relevant Employment Type.
- Expand the Meal Break accordion.
Rule Types Available
1. Daily Meal Allowance
A tiered allowance paid when overtime triggers meal break entitlements. Each tier must be fully completed before it pays out.
How to set it up:
- Click Add Rule under the Daily Meal Allowance header.
- Applicable Days — tick the days this rule applies to.
- Conditions — define tiered allowance rates:
- First condition: "Allowance Rate $[amount] after the first [X] hour(s) of overtime"
- Middle conditions: "Allowance Rate $[amount] after a subsequent [X] hour(s) of overtime"
- Final condition: "Allowance Rate $[amount] every [X] hours of overtime thereafter"
- Click Add Condition to add more tiers.
- Click the remove icon to delete a condition.
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
2. Pro-Rata Meal Allowance
Similar to the Daily Meal Allowance, but the final tier pays proportionally based on how much time was worked against the selected trigger basis — not just when a full tier is completed. For example, if the last tier requires 4 hours and the employee works 1 extra hour, they receive 25% of that tier's rate.
How to set it up:
- Click Add Rule under the Pro-Rata Meal Allowance header.
- Applicable Days — tick the days this rule applies to.
- Trigger Basis — choose what hours the conditions are measured against:
- Daily overtime only (default) — allowance is based on daily overtime hours worked (excludes roster overtime).
- Ordinary hours — allowance is based on ordinary (non-overtime) hours worked, including any leave treated as worked.
- Total work hours — allowance is based on the combined total of ordinary hours and daily overtime hours.
- Pro-rata last tier — toggle on (default) so the final tier pays proportionally. When toggled off, the last tier accrues in whole units only.
- Conditions — same tiered format as Daily Meal Allowance, but the wording updates automatically to reflect your chosen trigger basis (e.g. "hours of daily overtime thereafter").
- Earlier tiers pay in full once completed.
- The last tier pays pro-rata (or in whole units if the toggle is off).
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
Multiple rules: You can add more than one Pro-Rata Meal Allowance rule — including rules with the same trigger basis. All matching rules accumulate, so employees receive the combined allowances from every applicable rule.
Zero terminator: Setting the last condition to $0 and 0 threshold hours acts as a terminator — there will be no pro-rata accrual and no repeat on any remaining time.
When to use: Choose Pro-Rata Meal Allowance when your award requires partial payment for incomplete tiers. Choose Daily Meal Allowance when the full tier must be completed before payment applies.
3. Public Holiday Meal Allowance
Same as the Daily Meal Allowance but applies on public holidays. Only one rule is allowed.
How to set it up:
- Click Add Rule.
- Conditions — same tiered allowance format as above.
- No day selection needed — applies to public holidays automatically.
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
4. Public Holiday Pro-Rata Meal Allowance
Same as the Pro-Rata Meal Allowance but applies specifically on public holidays. The final tier pays proportionally based on the selected trigger basis.
How to set it up:
- Click Add Rule.
- Trigger Basis — choose what hours the conditions are measured against:
- Daily overtime only (default) — based on daily overtime hours worked on the public holiday (excludes roster overtime).
- Ordinary hours — based on ordinary hours worked, including leave treated as worked.
- Total work hours — based on the combined total of ordinary and daily overtime hours.
- Pro-rata last tier — toggle on (default) for proportional payment. Toggle off for whole-unit accrual only.
- Conditions — same tiered allowance format. The last tier pays pro-rata (or whole units if the toggle is off).
- No day selection needed — applies to public holidays automatically.
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
Multiple rules: You can add more than one Public Holiday Pro-Rata Meal Allowance rule. All matching rules accumulate.
If no Public Holiday Pro-Rata Meal Allowance rule is configured, the standard Pro-Rata Meal Allowance rules will apply on public holidays instead.
5. Meal Break Overtime
Overtime that starts when an employee works beyond a threshold without taking a 30-minute break.
How to set it up:
- Click Add Rule under the Meal Break Overtime header.
- Applicable Days — tick the days.
- Overtime Configuration — "Overtime starts after [X] working hours before a 30 mins break is taken."
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
6. Meal Break Fixed Rate Overtime
Same as meal break overtime, but with a specific rate applied.
How to set it up:
- Applicable Days — tick the days.
- Overtime Configuration — set the hours threshold.
- Meal Break Rate — enter the rate percentage (e.g., 150% for time and a half).
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
7. Meal Break Rate Multiplier Penalty
A penalty rate applied when an employee works beyond a threshold without taking a break.
How to set it up:
- Applicable Days — tick the days.
- Penalty Configuration — "After [X] working hours before a 30 mins break is taken."
- Penalty Rate — enter the rate percentage (must be greater than 100%).
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
8. Meal Break Dynamic Rate Multiplier Penalty
Similar to the rate multiplier penalty, but the penalty rate is automatically derived from your Daily Overtime rules instead of being set manually.
How to set it up:
- Applicable Days — tick the days.
- Threshold — set the hours before the penalty applies.
- No manual rate needed — the rate comes from your configured Daily Overtime rules.
- Enter the Clause, Rule Title, and use the Enabled toggle.
Important: Mutual Exclusivity
Some meal break rule types cannot be used together. Choose the option that matches your award:
- Daily Meal Allowance and Pro-Rata Meal Allowance are alternatives — use one or the other, not both.
- Public Holiday Meal Allowance and Public Holiday Pro-Rata Meal Allowance are alternatives — use one or the other, not both.
- Meal Break Overtime and Meal Break Fixed Rate Overtime are alternatives — use one or the other.
- Meal Break Rate Multiplier Penalty and Meal Break Dynamic Rate Multiplier Penalty are alternatives — use one or the other.
Managing Rules
- Enable/disable all meal break rules — use the toggle on the Meal Break accordion header.
- Remove a rule — click the remove icon in the clause section.
- Add tiers to meal allowances using Add Condition.
Tips
- Trigger Basis determines what hours count toward meal allowance thresholds. Use Daily overtime only for daily-overtime-based allowances (this excludes roster overtime), Ordinary hours for awards that trigger on regular work time, or Total work hours to count both ordinary and daily overtime combined.
- Pro-rata last tier — turn this off when your award requires full-tier completion for the last tier rather than proportional payment.
- Multiple pro-rata rules — you can stack several pro-rata rules (even with the same trigger basis) to model complex award entitlements. All matching rules accumulate.
- Zero terminator — use a $0 / 0-hour last condition to cap the allowance and prevent further pro-rata accrual.
- Choose the right meal break penalty type based on whether your award specifies a fixed penalty rate or derives it from overtime rates.
- Use the Test Bench to verify meal break calculations with sample timesheets.