Cover a call-out

Someone cannot make their shift. You need it covered in the next twenty minutes, and you need the schedule to still be true afterwards.

The fast path

1. Open Scheduling, find the shift, and select Find cover.
2. Clockout lists employees who are qualified for the role, have access to that store, and are not already scheduled at that time.
3. Either assign someone directly, or release the shift as open so anyone on that list can claim it.

Releasing it open is usually faster during service: the notification goes to everyone eligible at once instead of one person at a time.

Watch the overtime warning

The cover list flags anyone who would cross into overtime by taking the shift. Taking the shift anyway is a normal decision — but make it deliberately, because that cost lands in Run payroll at the end of the period.

Keep the record straight

Do not delete the shift and rebuild it. Reassigning keeps the history of who was originally scheduled and who ended up working, which is what you want when you look back at a pattern of call-outs a month later.

If nobody covers it and you decide the shift will not run, cancel it — do not delete it. A published shift is never deleted; cancelling keeps it in the week’s history marked as cancelled, so you can still see later that it was scheduled and why it did not happen. (Deleting is only available for shifts that are still in draft, before the week is published.)

If the shift simply passes with nobody working it, leave it alone — with no punch against it, it is recorded as a no-show, which is the accurate account of what happened.

After the shift

Nothing about a call-out changes anyone’s pay by itself; pay follows the punches. Check that the person who covered actually clocked in, and that the person who called out has no stray punch on the day — see Fix a missed punch.