Agreement Templates - Rules for Hours

Updated by Leigh Hutchens

This article relates to Classic.

The Time rules tab is used to enter different time rule types that are to apply to staff. The rules which are set then help during scheduling and Quinyx will generate warnings when the rules are breached.

It is possible to override a warning and so circumvent it. All warnings that are overridden are tracked in the in the Rule Circumvention log report.  Shifts without warnings will always be scheduled even if other associated shifts generate warnings.

Rules for working time

  • Max hours per day:  the maximum number of hours for which the employee may be scheduled per day, before Quinyx issues a warning.
    Note that the warning will be displayed and that the scheduler then has to choose to either override the warning and schedule the shift despite the warning, or cancel it.
  • Per week: In this case, we have specified that the scheduled time per week can amount to a maximum of 48 hours.
  • Min hours per week: You can specify a minimum limit for the number of scheduled hours per week.
  • Min rest:  The minimum rest period, daily rest, is set to 11 hours in the example. The box on the right determines whether the rest period can extend beyond daily break (in which case the box is checked) or whether the total rest period must fall within the preset 24-hour period (in which case the box will be unchecked). In the latter case (with the box unchecked), there is no need for 11 hours' rest between work shifts, but the rest period can be taken any time during the 24-hour period, but not extending beyond daily break. 

Example 1 : Checkbox is checked and daily rest is calculated over the daybreak (00:00) in this case the rest period is 15 hours and no warning will be given.

Example 2: Checkbox is unchecked and daily rest is calculated from 00:00 to the next occurrence of 00:00. In this case the rest period is maximum 8 hours and warning will be given.

  • Daybreak daily rest: refers to the time for daily daybreak. This applies to min daily rest, min weekly rest, max hours per day and max hours per week
  • If the agreement template covers people who work in a unit which, for instance, closes for every bank holiday, such as a head office, the Schedule bank holidays box can be unchecked. You will then receive a warning about trying to schedule employees for days which are entered as bank holidays in Quinyx. 
  • First day of week: Specify the first day in a 7-day period. This period is specified so that Quinyx can monitor within which 7-day period the weekly rest quota is achieved.
  • UT threshold: According to some collective agreements, the employee must work a certain number of hours per week or calculation period in order to be entitled to compensation for working unsocial time, based on the relevant unsocial time periods. Unsocial time will be generated only when the specified time limit is reached, which also then applies retrospectively to the whole period.
  • The function During X days, maximum X days with over X hours is only used in a few collective agreements. This rule means that during a particular period, the employee cannot be scheduled for more than a certain number of days per shift above a certain length. A warning is generated in Quinyx if this rule is broken.
  • Max days: Max number of consecutive days that may be scheduled. Quinyx generates a warning if the employee is scheduled for more than these consecutive days. In the leave field, you can specify how many consecutive days off the employee is entitled to after working the maximum period specified in the field above.
  • Min hours weekly rest: Just as with daily rest, you can specify how many hours of continuous weekly rest the employee is to have. E.g. 35 hours. Quinyx will also generate a warning in this case if the minimum weekly rest quota is not met.
  • Min weekends off per year: This field can be used if the employee is entitled to have a certain number of weekends off per year.
  • If the Advanced time rules box is checked, which is mainly used in Denmark, Quinyx will generate warnings if the following advanced time rules are not observed:
    • Maximum of 96 scheduled hours every 2 weeks.
    • Minimum of 4 days off during a 14-day period.
    • There must be at least 2 consecutive days off every second week.
    • Minimum of 5 weekends off during the previous 3 months.
    • Minimum of 1 weekend off every calculation period.
  • OT overrides UT: According to most collective agreements, compensation for overtime and for working unsocial hours are not be paid at the same time. Compensation for overtime will take precedence over compensation for working unsocial time.
  • Permit approval of overlapping shifts: Quinyx generates a warning if you schedule a shift that involves overlapping times for the employee. By checking this box you can continue scheduling, in spite of the warning about overlapping.
  • Min shift length: Click Add to add any rules on minimum shift length for which an employee can be scheduled. For example, it must be at least 6 hours if the shift starts between 19:00 and 03:00, but it must be at least 3 hours if it starts between 03:00 and 19:00.

Rules for breaks

  • Breaks counted as working hours is a function that can be used if you apply meal breaks (paid lunch breaks) in the workplace. This box must be checked in this case.
  • The field Max shift length without break (hours) indicates how long the employee can be scheduled for continuously without a break.
  • The fields Min break length (minutes) and Max break length (minutes) allow you to indicate the length of the shortest and longest break. A warning is generated if you staff a shift with a break time that is shorter or longer than the minimum or maximum.

Schedule changes

The last area under the Time rules tab is Schedule changes.

Min notice for schedule changes: Set whether schedule changes need to be reported to the employee at the latest 2 weeks before the change comes into force, for example, according to the collective agreement. You can choose months, weeks and days in the drop-down menu. Quinyx generates a warning if you make a change to the schedule with less notice than the defined value.


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