Correcting a Missed Return from Lunch

From time to time you may have an employee who forgets to punch back in from lunch and then leaves for the day without punching out for the day. When the employee returns for work the next day, they will estimate their lunch stop time, and clock in for the day. This will result in a missed stop error on the employee's timecard that will need addressed by an administrator. This article will explain how to fix a missed return from lunch.

When you open the Entry Editor window for the prior work day, you will have two entries: the first half of the workday and the missed return from lunch, see the example above. As the administrator, there are two ways you can handle a missed return from lunch to fix the timecard.

Option 1: Delete the lunch entry and insert a manual lunch.

1. Select the lunch entry and click Delete to remove the punch.
2. Edit the remaining entry for the day and change the Stop time to the end-of-day stop time (ex 5:00pm). Click Save.
3. Select the same entry and choose the Insert Lunch button from the toolbar.
4. Enter the Begin and End times for the lunch and Save. Review your changes.

For more information on inserting lunches, review the Adding Breaks & Lunches article.

Option 2: Correct lunch entry and add third entry for afternoon work hours.

1. Edit the lunch entry by correcting the lunch stop time and removing the Missed Stop Error.
2. Add an entry for the second half of the workday. Ensure that the Start time is identical to the Stop time of the lunch entry from the step above.
3. Save changes and review the timecard for accuracy.

Both of the methods outlined above for correcting a missed return from lunch will have the same result on the employee timecard, so choose the option that makes the most sense to you.