Clocking in, breaks and time off

This is the part your team sees. It is deliberately small — most people should be able to use it without being trained.

Clocking in and out

An employee opens Paidsley and taps to clock in, or says what they are doing and lets voice handle it. Voice exists because a phone in a work glove, in the rain, at the start of a shift is a bad place for a fiddly form.

Location is captured at the moment of the punch only — not tracked through the day. Paidsley records where someone clocked in, not where they went afterwards. That is a deliberate limit, and it is worth telling your team, because people are reasonably suspicious of workplace apps.

Punches are recorded to the minute and used as recorded. Paidsley does not round.

Meal breaks

The employee starts a meal break and ends it. Paidsley watches the clock against the fifth hour and, if notifications are on, nudges before the deadline rather than reporting the miss afterwards.

That timing matters: a meal period must begin before the end of the fifth hour. A break starting at four hours fifty-five minutes is fine; one starting at five hours and one minute is not — even if the employee then takes a full thirty minutes.

If a meal is missed, short, or late, Paidsley records the premium automatically. See Why Paidsley works the way it does for what that premium is and why it exists.

Rest breaks and the end-of-shift attestation

Rest breaks are paid, so most employers do not clock them. That leaves no record they happened, which is a problem when someone later says they did not get one.

Paidsley asks the employee at the end of the shift whether they received their rest breaks. Their answer is the record. It takes one tap, and it is the difference between having evidence and having an argument.

If someone says they did not get a break, a premium is recorded. That is not a punishment — it is the law working as intended, and it is far cheaper than discovering the same fact in a claim two years later.

Fixing a mistaken punch

Employees can request a correction, and a manager approves or declines it.

The original punch is never overwritten. The correction is stored alongside it with a link between the two, so the record shows what was originally recorded, what it was changed to, by whom, and when. When someone asks a year later what happened on a particular Tuesday, the answer is still there.

Time off requests

An employee requests time off, choosing the type and dates. A manager approves or declines. Approved time off draws against the right balance and appears on payroll. Requests can be made by voice too.

Receipts and expenses

Employees can photograph a receipt and submit it. California requires employers to reimburse necessary business expenses, and a photograph taken at the time is a better record than a crumpled receipt produced at the end of the month.

Notifications

Each employee can be nudged before a meal break becomes late and before overtime starts. Both are per-person settings.

Text messages require the employee's own consent, given when they set up their account. They can reply STOP at any time to stop, and START to resume. Paidsley records both, so your consent record matches what actually happened.

Language

Paidsley is available in English and Spanish, set per employee.