Midnight Boundary Rules

Where a shift keyed against a timesheet crosses the date boundary between two days, midnight boundary rules are used to determine the da y type that applies to the shift. The day type allows Rates and Rules to determine if the date on which a shift occurred was a weekday, weekend or a holiday.

Multiple midnight boundary rules can be defined within each set of primary interpretation rules for a given agreement. For example, different midnight boundary rules may be created for weekdays and weekends or for specific days of the week. Different midnight boundary rules may also be created for days where a specific holiday type applies. If a holiday type applies to a given day, that day is flagged as being a holiday which may be treated differently for the purposes of pay interpretation when compared to regular working days.

A midnight boundary rule is created by defining a name that uniquely identifies the rule, the applicable boundary type and the shift day types or holiday types to which the rule applies.

The boundary type defines if the midnight boundary rule determines the applicable day type by using the shift start date, the shift end date, the date on which the majority of the shift hours were worked or if the shift is treated as two separate shifts occurring on consecutive dates.

One or more shift day types can be selected within a midnight boundary rule if the rule is to apply to specific days of the week. For example, if a shift day type of Monday is selected, the midnight boundary rule will apply to any shift that starts on a Monday.

One or more holiday types can be selected within a midnight boundary rule if the rule is to apply to certain dates that are flagged as holidays rather than specific days of the week.

The following conditions apply to midnight boundary rules:

a single midnight boundary rule can apply to shift day types or holiday types but not both
multiple midnight boundary rules cannot be defined for the same shift day type or the same holiday type
where a midnight boundary rule exists for a given holiday type and another midnight boundary rule exists for the shift day type on which the holiday occurs, the midnight boundary rule for the holiday type overrides the midnight boundary rule for the day type
if one primary interpretation header is valid on a shift start date and another primary interpretation header is valid on the shift end date, the header that is valid on the shift start date applies to the entire shift, even if the shift is split for the purposes of determining the applicable day types.

Define a Midnight Boundary Rule

To define a time rounding rule for a pay agreement, follow the procedure below.

1.	If not already open, open a pay agreement in the Pay Agreement Entry screen.
2.	Scroll down to the Primary Interpretation section and click the open button. The Primary Interpretation section of the screen expands.
3.	Click the existing primary interpretation header to which the midnight boundary rule is to be added. The Primary Interpretation Header, Time Rounding Rule, Midnight Boundary Rules and Unpaid Breaks options are displayed, as shown in the example below.
4.	Click the Add button to the right of Midnight Boundary Rules. The Midnight Rule Entry page displays.
5.	In the New Midnight Rule Entry page, type or select the relevant information as required. Name Name that identifies the midnight boundary rule. This must be unique within the agreement. Boundary Rule Defines the type of boundary rule to be applied. The available options are as follows: - Shift Start Date: use applicable day type of date on which shift started - Shift End Date: use applicable day type of date on which shift ended - Majority Hours Worked: use applicable day type of date on which majority of shift hours occurred - Shift Hours Split: treat shift as two separate shifts, occurring on two separate dates (shift split at midnight), and allocate time worked during each shift against the respective dates. Shift Day Types Days of the week to which the midnight boundary rule applies. To apply the rule to a specific day of the week, click the relevant day of the week so that it displays a tick. Note that you can click Week Day or Weekend to select all week days and all weekend days respectively without clicking each day individually. Do not select any options in this field if the rule is to apply to one or more holiday types (for more information, see below). Holiday Types Holidays to which the midnight boundary rule applies. To apply the rule to a specific holiday type, click the relevant holiday type so that it displays a tick. Multiple holiday types can be selected if the rule is to apply to multiple holiday types. Do not select any options in this field if the rule is to apply to shift day types (for more information, see above).
6.	Click Save. A confirmation message opens, indicating the agreement has been saved successfully.