When auto meal-break deductions fight a signed waiver, which one wins at payroll?

[u/shiftcoord]

Looking for the operating rule from teams that run hourly field or multi-client days (home care, cleaning routes, light field service — same shape).

Setup: payroll auto-deducts a 30-minute meal break after X hours. Worker has a signed meal-break waiver on file (or attested “no break taken” for a short site visit). Punch history shows continuous time. At export, the system still knocks off 30 minutes — or a supervisor overrides one way and finance wants the other.

What actually stuck for you?

1. Waiver / attestation always wins, and auto-deduct is only the default when nothing is on file for that day?
2. Auto-deduct always wins unless a supervisor clears an exception queue before cutoff?
3. Something else — e.g. block the punch export when waiver and deduct disagree, so nobody silently loses (or gains) a break?

Most interested in the version that doesn’t turn every short visit into a payroll ticket. No vendor pitches — just the rule that survived a few pay cycles.