# How Shiftguide picks a work rule

**For:** Manager | Admin
**You'll need:** Nothing.

When validation, payroll, or a report needs to know "which work rule applies here?", {{ app_name }} walks a four-step cascade and returns the first rule it finds. This article documents that cascade so you can predict (and override) which rule a given shift will use.

## The cascade

For any assignment — a person on a shift at a location — Shiftguide checks these four sources in order and uses the first one that has a rule set:

1. **The person's override.** On the person's profile, the **'Work rule'** field. Set this when one individual has a contract that differs from everyone else at their location.
2. **The person's employment type.** On the {doc}`employment type </set-up-your-company/employment-types/index>`, the **'Work rule'** field. Use this for "all our part-time interns follow this rule" cases.
3. **The location's work rule.** On the {doc}`location </set-up-your-company/locations/index>`, the **'Work rule'** field. The most common pin: every shift at the Zürich store follows the Swiss work rule.
4. **The tenant default.** Whichever work rule has **'Default'** ticked. Acts as a safety net if nothing more specific is set.

If none of the four is set, no rule is applied and validation skips work-rule checks for that assignment. (Reports still run; they just won't flag overtime or rest-period violations.)

## Why this order

Each level can override the one below it. That lets you set sensible defaults at the top of the org (the tenant default), narrow them at the location, narrow them further per employment type, and finally make individual exceptions on a person record — without rewriting the rule each time.

## See which rule was applied

There's no dedicated UI label that says "this shift used rule X". Two places give you the answer:

- The **calendar hover tooltip** on a shift lists work-rule violations, prefixed with the rule name.
- The {doc}`overtime / compliance report </reports-and-payroll/overtime-and-compliance>` lists each violation with the rule it came from.

If a violation references a rule you didn't expect, walk the cascade above from level 1: which level set that rule for this person at this location?

## Common pitfalls

- **Forgot to set a tenant default.** Validation goes silent. Open {doc}`manage-work-rules` and tick **'Default'** on one rule.
- **Person override left over from a contract change.** When someone's contract changes, the override on their profile stays. Clear it so they pick up the new employment-type rule.
- **Location set to a rule that doesn't match its country.** A Swiss location pinned to a US rule won't catch ArG violations. Either fix the location's rule or seed the right rule for the country.

## Related

- {doc}`manage-work-rules`
- {doc}`identity-and-jurisdiction`
- {doc}`/set-up-your-company/locations/add-a-location`
- {doc}`/set-up-your-company/employment-types/index`
- {doc}`/set-up-your-company/people/edit-a-person`