A metal fabrication plant kept discovering labor-law violations only after payroll ran. We connected its time clocks to a real-time rules engine that warns shift managers before any worker crosses a legal limit — and violations dropped to zero.
Typical results
0
Violations once live
45 min
Warning before a breach
18%
Overtime spend saved
120
Workers monitored live
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
With 120 workers across three shifts, overtime crept past daily hour caps and rest requirements without anyone noticing until the payroll report landed. The plant averaged 14 violations a month, each one a fine risk and a retro correction, and HR spent about ten hours monthly untangling hours after the fact.
Before and after
Labor-law violations per month
−100%Payroll corrections per month
−90%Monthly overtime hours
−18%The automation
We streamed every clock punch from the plant's time clocks into a Make-powered rules engine that tracks each worker's running daily and weekly totals against legal limits and mandatory rest windows. When someone approaches a threshold, the shift manager gets a WhatsApp alert about 45 minutes before the breach, complete with rested, qualified workers who can take over. Verified, compliant hours then export straight to payroll.
How it works
- 01
Punches stream in
Every clock-in and clock-out flows from the plant's time clocks into the rules engine within seconds.
- 02
Rules evaluated
Daily and weekly hour caps and mandatory rest windows are checked against each worker's running totals.
- 03
Manager warned
Approaching a limit triggers a WhatsApp alert with the worker's remaining legal hours — about 45 minutes before the breach.
- 04
Swap suggested
The alert lists rested, qualified workers who can legally take over the rest of the shift.
- 05
Payroll stays clean
Verified, compliant hours export straight to payroll with no retro fixes.
Starts from
- Time-clock punches
- Shift rosters
Delivers
- WhatsApp manager alerts
- Compliance dashboard
- Clean payroll export
The impact
Labor-law violations drop from 14 a month to zero. Overtime spend falls 18% as managers balance shifts proactively, monthly payroll corrections shrink from ten hours to one, and the plant walks into every labor inspection with a clean, real-time compliance record.
Questions about this automation
Which labor-law rules can the automation check?
The rules engine tracks daily and weekly hour caps, mandatory rest windows between shifts and limits on consecutive working days, based on the rules that apply to the business. Each worker's running totals update with every clock punch, so the check reflects the hours actually worked as well as the planned roster.
How early does a shift manager get warned?
The alert goes out on WhatsApp when a worker is projected to reach a limit, typically about 45 minutes ahead. It shows the worker's remaining legal hours and lists rested, qualified colleagues who could take over the rest of the shift, so the manager can act right away.
What does the automation need from our existing systems?
It needs a live feed or a regular export from the time-clock system, the shift roster and the payroll file format the business uses. Verified hours are exported to payroll in that format. A multi-step build like this is usually rolled out in stages, starting with the alerts and then the payroll export.