Break planner
On a busy shift nobody knows when each person's breaks fall, so they slide until the rush is over or get skipped. Put in today's shifts and your state, and get a break plan for the board: every meal and rest break inside its window, staggered so the floor stays covered.
The break plan appears here
Put in a start and an end for at least one person.
Breaks in order, for the board
| Time | Who | Break |
|---|
Per person
Run the day in tick-tock-done: shifts sit next to the time clock, where a break is its own punch, so the timesheet shows when each break was really taken.
How it works
For each shift the planner works out the breaks the state asks for and the window each one has to start in: a meal break before the end of the 5th hour in California, between the 2nd and 5th hour in Washington, between 11 AM and 2 PM in New York, and so on, plus paid 10-minute rest breaks where the state requires them (10 minutes for every 4 hours, or the major part of 4 hours). Then it places them, the tightest windows first, each at the time with the fewest other people already off, keeping the same person's breaks at least 15 minutes apart. If a break can't be placed without going over your limit, it is marked so you can move a shift or allow one more off.
The rules, as we read them in October 2026: California 30 minutes on a shift over 5 hours and a second over 10; Washington 30 minutes between the 2nd and 5th hour over 5 hours; Oregon 30 minutes on 6 hours or more; Colorado 30 minutes over 5 hours; Nevada 30 minutes on 8 hours; Illinois 20 minutes by the 5th hour on 7.5 hours or more, and 20 more for each further 4.5 hours; New York 30 minutes in the noon window on a shift over 6 hours, with the evening and overnight cases; Massachusetts 30 minutes for every 6 hours. Paid rest breaks in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Other states set no break for adults, so the planner only suggests a meal on shifts over 6 hours. Workers under 18, union contracts and industry exemptions have their own rules, and the rules change, so treat this as a plan for the day, not legal advice.
It uses the times you type: a shift that runs late or a break taken late changes the picture, which is what the time clock is for.
Every state's rule in more detail, the federal pay rules for short breaks and meal breaks, and how to record breaks on a time clock: Meal and rest breaks on restaurant and construction shifts, state by state.