Meal Penalties Tracking & Compliance

Meal penalties (liquidated damages, formally) are what a production pays when cast or crew are not fed on time. SAG-AFTRA sets the rules for performers and IATSE for crew. According to SAG-AFTRA's official guidelines, the first meal period must be called no later than 6 hours from the call time, and all subsequent meal periods are due no later than 6 hours after the end of the preceding meal period. Damages for violations are $25.00 for each of the first and second half hours, and $50.00 for each half hour thereafter. IATSE timing runs along similar lines under the 2024 IATSE Basic Agreement. Payroll pays penalties from the paperwork, so a penalty that is not written down is not paid.

Under standard SAG-AFTRA and IATSE contracts, a meal break must be called within 6 hours of the performer's or crew member's call time (5 hours under some contracts). Past that mark, penalties accrue per 30 minutes, at an escalating rate.

Meal penalties are written first meal / second meal. A clean day is 0/0. Write the number of violations only. Payroll works out the dollars from the count.

The record payroll works from is the Exhibit G for cast and the timecards for crew. The call sheet goes out before the day, so it carries none.

• Exhibit G (SAG-AFTRA): the Production Time Report for performers, with its own meal penalty column. In G-Casper Pro that column is MPVs and takes the count as first meal / second meal, so 2 first-meal and 1 second-meal penalties go in as 2/1.
• Daily Production Report (PR): the 2nd AD carries meal penalties onto the PR at wrap, by department or cast member (e.g., "Cast #2: 2 MPV").
• Crew Timecards: crew write their own meal penalties on the daily timecard for payroll.
• Hot Costs Report: G-Casper Pro's Hot Costs tab prices the MPV counts from the PR Back alongside the day's overtime, for whoever on the show sees money.

A meal pushed 12 minutes or less to finish a setup, approved by the union rep or the cast, is Grace. No penalty, and it goes down as 0/0. Note it in the remarks on the Exhibit G or the PR (e.g., "12 Min Grace"). Go past the grace window and the penalty runs from the original meal-due time, not from the end of the grace.

The 0/0 notation is the same on every contract. The timing trigger, the dollar amount and the local provisions change. SAG-AFTRA's Theatrical, Television, Low Budget, Ultra Low Budget and Commercial agreements each time meals and price penalties a little differently. IATSE meal penalty rules come from the IATSE Basic Agreement and supplemented by local agreements. Different IATSE locals may have different escalation rates and crew-vs-driver distinction for overtime thresholds.

• SAG-AFTRA Theatrical/Television: 6-hour first meal, $25/$25/$50 escalation
• SAG-AFTRA Low Budget: May allow 5-hour first meal under certain conditions
• IATSE crew: 6-hour first meal, penalties per the Basic Agreement and local supplements
• IATSE drivers: Often have separate overtime and meal penalty thresholds from general crew

You enter the counts. G-Casper Pro prices them for the producer.

• PR Back: every crew row has an MPV cell in the same a/b form as the paper, first meal then second. Pick the count from the list.
• Exhibit G: the MPVs column holds each performer's count, first meal / second meal. Report and dismiss times and the first meal start as faded drafts from the call sheet until you approve them. See SAG Exhibit G Forms.
• Late lunch flag: the call sheet warnings flag a lunch set more than six hours after crew call, before the sheet goes out.
• Hot Costs: the tab reads the MPV cells and prices them per meal, escalating by the rates in Hot Cost Globals. Overview, Detail and All Days all show the total. See Hot Costs Reports.
• Crew and drivers: Hot Cost Globals keep separate overtime thresholds for drivers, which many IATSE agreements need.

A few habits, and where the app helps:

• Meal-due times: count six hours from each department's call on the CS Back, not only from crew call. The call sheet warnings flag a lunch set more than six hours after crew call.
• NDBs: an NDB does not start the meal clock. Courtesy Breakfast in Globals, under Default Call Time Offsets, sets where breakfast lands against crew call.
• The last setup before lunch: if it is a big one, it may belong after the meal.
• Department heads: a 30-minute warning before meal-due gives them time to land the shot.
• Second meal: easy to lose track of after a long afternoon. The Exhibit G's 2nd meal columns are there for it.

The meal penalty field on the Exhibit G and crew timecards takes the violation count and nothing else.

• Never write dollar amounts (payroll calculates those from the violation count and contract rate)
• Never write "late meal" or narrative explanations in the MP field
• Never write fractional penalties like "1.5 penalties". Each 30-minute increment is a whole number
• Never write time durations ("45 minutes late"). Convert to violation count instead
• Never leave the field blank when penalties occurred. A blank field implies 0/0

The contract language and penalty schedules, from the unions:

• SAG-AFTRA: When Are Meals Due? What Are Liquidated Damages If Not Fed on Time?: Official SAG-AFTRA meal timing and penalty rate guidance
• 2024 IATSE Basic Agreement (PDF): The full IATSE Basic Agreement memorandum including meal penalty provisions
• IATSE Local 80 FAQ: Frequently asked questions from IATSE Local 80 covering meal breaks, overtime, and working conditions
• IATSE Local 728 Meal Penalty Computation Spreadsheet: A computation resource from IATSE Local 728 for calculating meal penalty costs