# Meal & Unpaid Breaks

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/meal-break

> Schedule meal breaks and rest periods into a Support Worker's roster, one-off or recurring.

Scheduling add-on - This feature requires the Scheduling add-on, which is available on Astalty Premium. See How to enable Scheduling.

## Overview

Astalty represents breaks in two ways:

- Add a **Meal Break** or **Tea Break** to a Support Worker on an existing support. This records a duration on that shift.
- Create a separate **Unpaid Break** shift between supports. This is a roster event with its own start and end time.

Recording a break does not check every condition in an award or confirm that a roster complies with it.

## How to Add a Break

Go to [Scheduling](https://app.astalty.com.au/scheduling/schedule) and select **Add Shift**.

Choose **Unpaid Break**.

![The Create Shift Event form with the Unpaid Break option highlighted, above the Start Time, End Time and Timezone fields, the Repeat this Unpaid Break toggle and a Worker section showing No Support Worker Selected.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image1-1757921762.png)

Select one Support Worker. An Unpaid Break cannot be left unassigned and cannot contain its own meal break.

Enter any notes or instructions in **Break details**.

Set the start and end date and time.

Set recurrence if required:

- Choose to repeat daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly
- Pick the specific days the break repeats on
- Set an end date
- You can roster breaks up to 12 months in advance

Review the details and select **Create**.

### Break Example

Breaks appear in green on the schedule. Place the break between the supports it separates.

![The Schedule in Day view grouped by Support Worker, with a green 12pm - 1pm Unpaid Break highlighted, sitting between two shifts in one staff member's row.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image2-1757921803.png)

### Adding a Break from Within a Support

You can add a meal break directly while viewing a support. To do this:

- Open the support

![The Schedule in Week view filtered to one Support Worker, with an arrow pointing to a highlighted shift on the calendar.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/meal-break-1.png)

- Select the three dots next to the Support Worker's name, and click **Add Break**

![A support with the three-dot menu on the Support Worker's shift card highlighted as step 1 and Add Break highlighted as step 2 in the open menu.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/meal-break-2.png)

- Choose the break type, duration, and whether it is paid. On a recurring support, **Add break to future shifts in this schedule** opens the occurrence selector so you can choose the following shifts. Select **Create**.

![The Add Break dialog with Meal Break selected, a Duration of 30, the Is paid break checkbox, the Add break to future shifts in this schedule checkbox, and an arrow pointing to Create.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/meal-break-3.png)

- The break appears on the support.

![A support with an arrow pointing to the new 30m Meal Break, highlighted on the Support Worker's shift card.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/meal-break-4.png)

Meal breaks are based on duration rather than a set time, giving flexibility for the break to be taken at the most suitable point during the shift. This same process applies to both [1:1 Shifts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/adding-shifts/adding-a-11-shift) and [Group Shifts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/adding-shifts/adding-a-group-shift).

### Default Duration and Pay

Selecting a break type resets the duration and **Is paid break** to that type's defaults. Choose the type first, then change either value if needed.

| Break type     | Duration   | Is paid break |
| -------------- | ---------- | ------------- |
| **Meal Break** | 30 minutes | Off           |
| **Tea Break**  | 10 minutes | On            |

These are Astalty's form defaults. They are starting values and can be changed before saving. A break already on a shift keeps the duration and pay status it was saved with. To change it, remove the break and add it again.

### Removing a Meal Break

To remove a meal break, click on the "**X**" next to the break. This will delete it from the support.

![A support with an arrow pointing to the highlighted X beside the 30m Meal Break on the Support Worker's shift card.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/meal-break-5.png)

Removing a Support Worker from a shift also removes the break attached to that worker's shift.

## Checking Whether a Break is Paid or Unpaid

Hover over a break on a Schedule shift card to see whether it is a **Paid break** or **Unpaid break**.

![A shift card listing a 30m Meal Break and a 15m Tea Break, with a tooltip reading Unpaid break shown while hovering over the meal break.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/meal-break-paid-unpaid-tooltip.png)

This works for both meal and tea breaks. It's available automatically for everyone, with no setup required.

## Unpaid Breaks

An Unpaid Break is its own roster event between supports. It is excluded from paid work records. It is different from an unpaid duration attached to one support.

### Creating an Unpaid Break

To create an unpaid meal break, open **Schedule**, select **Add Shift**, then choose **Unpaid Break**.

![The Create Shift Event form with an arrow pointing to the selected Unpaid Break option, above the Start Time and End Time fields, the Repeat this Unpaid Break toggle and a Worker section showing No Support Worker Selected.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/unpaid-break.png)

The unpaid break then appears on the Schedule.

![The Schedule in Day view, grouped by Support Worker, with a green Unpaid Break from 12pm to 1pm between two shifts in a staff member's row.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/unpaid-break-on-schedule.png)

### Important Considerations

- Clocking out of the support before the break can clock the adjacent Unpaid Break in. Clocking in to the following support can clock the break out.
- Unpaid Break shifts still pass through approval. Auto-approval settings can approve them when their thresholds are met.

## Breaks and Award Pay

Astalty uses the **Is paid break** setting to calculate paid time. Paid breaks remain paid time. Unpaid breaks are excluded from paid hours. A recorded unpaid break within a continuous engagement is different from an unrecorded gap between separate attendances; see [Engagements](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-award-alerts#engagements).

Astalty defaults a Meal Break to 30 minutes unpaid and a Tea Break to 10 minutes paid. It does not use those defaults to validate when a break must occur, how many breaks a worker is entitled to, an agreement to combine breaks, or the payroll consequence of working through a break. Check the applicable award, employment arrangement, and payroll result separately.

Under SCHADS, Employment Hero, PayCat and QuickBooks Payroll usually deduct an unpaid meal break from a long shift with no break recorded. On most shifts, a **Meal Break** or an unpaid **Tea Break** added to the support replaces that deduction. A paid **Tea Break**, and an **Unpaid Break** roster event, aren't sent to payroll as breaks. See [Meal breaks on Employment Hero, PayCat and QuickBooks Payroll](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-faq/schads-interpretations-in-astalty#meal-breaks-on-employment-hero-paycat-and-quickbooks-payroll) for how Astalty sends each shift, and which shifts to check in your first pay run.

An [overtime meal allowance](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/scheduling-faq/schads-interpretations-in-astalty#meal-allowance) is a separate entitlement and setting; it does not replace a meal break.