Wage Rules and How They Are Used – Support | Time Portal, LLC

Wage Rules in Time Portal

In this article, we will explain what Wage Rules are, when you should use them, how to configure them, and how they are applied throughout Time Portal.

What is a Wage Rule?

A Wage Rule is a configuration that defines how time data is processed when exporting to payroll.

Wage rules control things such as:

Hourly rates
Minimum wage calculations
Overtime rules
Break pay rules
Job, Location, and Crop Variety filters

These rules ensure that your payroll data is calculated correctly based on your business requirements.

💡 Important: Wage Rules are an advanced feature. If you operate in a simple environment (single state, no overtime, no special rules), you may not need to use them.

Do I Need a Wage Rule?

You should consider using Wage Rules if:

You pay overtime
You operate in multiple states
You need different pay logic for different types of work
You need minimum wage makeup calculations
You want to apply rules based on jobs, locations, or crop varieties

How to Access Wage Rules

Navigate to:

Lists → Wage Rules

From here, you can:

View existing wage rules
Create new wage rules
Edit existing configurations

Creating a Wage Rule

Click Create to open the configuration screen.

Below is a breakdown of each section and field.

Wage Rule Anatomy

Details

Basic identifying information for this wage rule.

Name - The name used to identify the wage rule throughout the system.

Example:

Florida Rule
Georgia Rule

Is Active - Controls whether the wage rule is available for use.

Rates

Sets the base pay rates used when calculating earnings for this wage rule.

Hourly Rate - The base hourly rate paid to workers.

Minimum Wage (Domestic) - Used to calculate minimum wage makeup for non-H2A workers. Applied when Is H2A = FALSE on the employee record

H2A Minimum Wage - Used to calculate minimum wage makeup for H2A workers. Applied when Is H2A = TRUE on the employee record

Overtime

Defines when overtime begins and how overtime pay is calculated.

Is Overtime Based on Individual Record Rates - When turned on, Time Portal calculates overtime pay using each record's hourly rate instead of an average over the pay period.

Calculation Rules

Defines when overtime begins and how pay is calculated based on hours worked. Overtime is calculated in tiers. Regular applies first, then Extended (if configured), and Weekly applies after total hours exceed the weekly threshold. Example: Regular = 1.5x after 8 hours, Extended = 2x after 12 hours, Weekly = 1.5x after 40 hours. A 50-hour week would include daily overtime first, then remaining hours counted as weekly overtime.

Regular - Example: [1.5] × pay after [8] hours/day

Extended - Example: [2.0] × pay after [12] hours/day

Weekly - Example: [1.5] × pay after [40] hours/week

Eligibility Filters

Eligibility filters are designed to allow overtime to be applied to a workers pay period in a situation where they may perform non-ag work, qualifying them for overtime when otherwise they would not.

Eligibility filters are optional. Use these filters to require that the pay period contains at least one matching record before overtime is calculated. Each filter type is optional. When used, the pay period must contain at least one matching record for that filter type before overtime is calculated. If no filters are selected, the rule applies to all work.

Filters can be applied to the following types:

Jobs
Locations
Crop Varieties

Break Pay

Break pay allows additional compensation based on hours worked.

Break Pay Rule

Defines how paid break time is earned based on hours worked. Workers earn a set number of break minutes each time they reach the configured hours worked threshold.

Rule -

Amount of paid break time (in minutes) added each time the hours worked threshold is met.
Number of hours that must be worked to earn break pay
Example: 10 minutes for every 4 hours worked. A worker who works 8 hours would earn 20 minutes of break pay.

Minimum Daily Hours - Minimum number of hours that must be worked in a day before break pay is applied.

Example: Worker must work at least 3.5 hours before break pay is applied.

Round Up Hours - Determines how many additional hours must be worked beyond a full break interval to qualify for another break period.

Example: if this value is set to 2.1 (with a 4-hour break interval), the employee must work more than halfway toward the next 4-hour block to receive an additional break.

How Wage Rules Are Applied

Wage Rules are applied at the Time Sheet level. Each time sheet can have one wage rule assigned.

Manual Assignment

On the time sheet screen, select the appropriate wage rule.

Automatic Assignment (Recommended)

Time Portal can automatically assign wage rules using this hierarchy:

Crew Default Wage Rule
Company Default Wage Rule
Manual selection (if none assigned)

When time sheets are created, the correct rule is applied automatically. This reduces manual work, prevents errors, and ensures consistency.

How Wage Rules are used when exporting payroll

Once wage rules are applied to time sheets, they are used during payroll export to determine how the data is processed. Time Portal automatically groups time sheet data by the assigned wage rule, with time sheets that do not have a wage rule grouped together separately. Each group is processed as its own batch to ensure the correct calculations are applied.

For example, when selecting a date range and crew(s) on the payroll export screen, you can choose a specific wage rule (such as a “Florida” rule) to export only the time sheets associated with that rule. Alternatively, if no wage rule is selected, Time Portal will process all time sheets and automatically separate them into batches by wage rule (including those without one), ensuring each set of data is calculated and exported correctly.

Putting It All Together (Example)

Let’s say:

Workers in Florida follow standard overtime rules
Workers in Georgia have different minimum wage rates
Driving work has special pay rules

You could configure:

Florida Rule (state-specific with overtime)
Georgia Rule (state-specific with different rates)
Driving Rule (overtime filtered by job)

Each time sheet will:

Receive a wage rule automatically
Apply correct calculations
Export cleanly to payroll