Why it matters
Your paycheck is based on net hours, not gross hours. If you work an 8.5-hour shift and take a 30-minute unpaid meal break, your net hours are 8.0 — that's what shows up on your pay statement. Understanding the difference prevents confusion when your pay doesn't match the total time you were at work.
How it works
FabWise calculates net hours with a simple formula:
Gross hours (shift start to shift end) minus unpaid break time = net hours worked
| Component | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Gross hours | Total time from when you started to when you ended your shift | 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM = 8.5 hours |
| Unpaid break time | Meal breaks + personal time (not deducted from pay if under 20 min) | 30-min meal break = 0.5 hours |
| Net hours | What you're paid for | 8.5 - 0.5 = 8.0 hours |
What counts as unpaid?
| Break type | Paid or unpaid? | Deducted from net hours? |
|---|---|---|
| Meal break (30 min) | Unpaid | Yes — deducted |
| Personal time | Unpaid | Yes — deducted |
Under the FLSA, bona fide meal periods (30 minutes or more, relieved of duties) are unpaid and ARE deducted.
Rounding affects net hours too
Your clock times are rounded before net hours are calculated. If you started at 7:53 (rounds to 8:00) and ended at 4:08 (rounds to 4:15), your gross hours are 8.25 — not 8 hours and 15 minutes of raw clock time. The rounding happens first, then breaks are deducted.
When net hours is blank
Sometimes a shift shows a dash where its net hours would be. That's not a display error. It means FabWise doesn't yet have the facts to produce an honest number, so it prints none.
A shift lands there when something the calculation depends on is missing or unsettled — most often no end time, because the shift was never ended and a supervisor hasn't supplied the real one yet. A missed shift reads the same way: there were no hours to work with.
FabWise could fill that space with an estimate. It deliberately doesn't. A number sitting in an hours column gets read as the hours — by the supervisor signing the week, and by the provider paying from it. A guess that looks like a figure is worse than an obvious blank, because the blank tells you there's something to go fix and the guess doesn't.
The dash clears itself. Supply what's missing — an end time, a correction, a classification for a missed shift — and the shift's net hours appear.
Every net hours figure you see on a review screen is the pay basis: the rounded number sign-off will produce, not the raw span between taps. So the figure doesn't shift under you when the week is approved — approval memorializes the same number you were reading.
Net hours and your weekly total
Net hours are what roll up to your weekly total and into the payroll export. If you work five 8.5-hour shifts with 30-minute meal breaks each, your weekly net hours are 40.0 (5 × 8.0).
Skip lunch one day and that day's net hours become 8.5 instead of 8.0, so your weekly total is 40.5. What that extra half hour is worth is your payroll provider's call — FabWise's job is to make sure the 40.5 is right.
This is why tracking breaks matters even when they're not legally required: the deduction is the difference between an accurate record and a guess.
Where to find it
Workers
- Workstation > My Shifts: each shift shows your net hours
- Kiosk: your shift card shows gross time during the shift; net hours appear after completion
Supervisors
- Admin > Shift Detail > Time Summary: shows Duration (gross), Break, and Net Hours
- Admin > Timecards > [a week]: a Net Hrs column on every shift row in the review grid
- Admin > Payroll Report: net hours per worker per pay period
What you'll see
On the shift detail Time Summary
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Start | 8:00 AM |
| End | 4:30 PM |
| Duration | 8.5h |
| Break | 0.5h |
| Net Hours | 8.0h |
Duration is your gross time. Break is your total unpaid break time. Net Hours is what you're paid for.
On your pay statement
Your net hours for each shift are totaled across the pay period. The pay statement shows:
- Straight time hours (net hours up to the overtime threshold)
- Overtime hours (net hours beyond 40 in the workweek)
What to do
Workers: Check your net hours on each shift to make sure your breaks were recorded correctly. If your net hours seem wrong, check the Break Summary — a missing or extra break changes the number.
Supervisors: When reviewing a shift, net hours is the number that matters for pay. If it looks off, check the breaks — an untaken meal break means higher net hours. A long personal time means lower net hours.
Common questions
Q: Why are my net hours different from the time I was at work?
A: Unpaid breaks are deducted. If you were at work for 8.5 hours but took a 30-minute meal break, your net hours are 8.0. The 30 minutes you were on break are not compensable time.
Q: I didn't take a break but my net hours are lower than expected.
A: Check if personal time was recorded. Even a short personal time break is deducted from your net hours.
Q: A shift shows a dash instead of net hours. What do I do?
A: Open the shift. Something the calculation needs is missing — usually an end time. FabWise shows no figure rather than a guess, because a guessed number in an hours column gets paid. Supply what's missing and the number appears.
Q: My net hours show 7.75 but I worked a full 8-hour shift. What happened?
A: Most likely a 15-minute timing difference. Check the Time Summary — did rounding change your start or end time? A shift from 8:08 (rounds to 8:15) to 4:00 is 7.75 gross hours, and if no break was taken, 7.75 net hours.
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Last updated: 2026-08-26