Employee Meal Credit

These funds are not visible in the Cougar Cash feature on the BYU app, but you can check your current balance and transaction history on My Financial Center.

1. Open a web browser on a phone or computer and go to myfinancialcenter.byu.edu.
   
2. If prompted, log into the site with your BYU Net ID and password.
   
3. The fourth section on the homepage is called “Cougar Cash / Meal Plans”. You will see the current balance of your employee meal credit here under the label “Employee Meal – Dining – PT”.
   
4. If you would like to see the transaction history for your meal credit, click the “Manage Account” button. You will then be able to select “Employee Meal – Dining – PT” from the Transaction History dropdown.

See the list of accepted locations in the table below. Areas that use Dining Mobile Ordering in the BYU app have asterisks next to them below.

You can use meal credit by paying with your BYU ID card with a cashier/kiosk, or selecting your BYU ID card at checkout when using mobile ordering in the BYU app. This meal credit account on your ID card is higher in priority than Cougar Cash.

Example: If you are paying for a $7.50 transaction at Cougar Café but only have $4.00 on your meal credit account, BYU will charge $4.00 to your meal credit account and charge the balance ($3.50) to your personal Cougar Cash.

Employees with Student Meal Plans
Meal plans are lower priority than this meal credit, so if you are an employee with a meal plan your employee meal credit funds will be used first.

Each morning (4:46 AM) meal credit deposits and withdrawals are calculated from your BYU timesheet. This means that your daily posting will include both credit from the previous day’s shift(s) and any adjustments made the previous day by time corrections. Adjustments will always appear as a separate line item on your transaction history.

The process to pull data from your timesheet begins at 10 PM each night, so if you clock out for a shift after 10 PM there may be a one-day delay in your credit loading to your account.

Your meal credit account is set to not go over $250. This means you will not accrue any additional funds while your meal credit account’s balance is at $250.

Withdrawals happen on your account if time corrections are made and if you were issued more credit previously than you should have been. If this results in a negative balance, you will not be able to use the meal credit account until you build the balance back to a positive value. If you feel like there is an issue with your account, please contact diningemployeemeals@byu.edu.

Whenever you use meal credit to pay for a meal at the Cannon Commons, you will be charged the Dining part-time employee price. Here is the current pricing:

• Breakfast: $7.60
• Lunch: $9.65
• Dinner: $11.15
• Sunday Breakfast: $7.60
• Sunday Lunch: $12.55
• Sunday Dinner: $12.55

Any meal credit that you spend is considered earnings and we are required to report it on your paycheck for tax reasons.

• You can view your BYU paychecks at this link: https://hrms.byu.edu/psp/ps/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/ROLE_EMPLOYEE.PY_IC_PAY_INQ.GBL
• The funds you spend will be listed in the “Hours and Earnings” section on your paycheck under the description “Meal Credit – Non Cash Taxable”.
• The amount of meal credit you spend will not affect your total gross income or your net pay (the amount you are paid via direct deposit).
• The amount of meal credit you spend will be included in your federal gross taxable income.
• Any meal credit that you spend is considered taxable earnings, and will be included in your calculated federal and state taxable income on your W-2.

Most employees with student-purchased meal plans will be able to use their meal credit and meal plan together. However, Dining Services recognizes that employees with the Open Door or Dining Plus meal plans (1) will have issues spending all the money available to them and (2) will pay a higher price at the Cannon than their meal plan's contracted rate since employee meal credit is deducted first. Because of this, Dining Services encourages these employees to convert their student meal plan to the 19+ plan through the petition process.

• Employees who convert to the smaller plan will either be refunded the difference (prorated) or their monthly payments will be reduced to reflect the adjusted balance due.
• If the employee ends Dining employment prior to the end of the meal plan agreement period, their plan will be converted back to the original plan (prorated).

If this situation applies to you, please submit a petition here. For additional questions about the petition process, please contact Mark Davies at mark.davies@byu.edu.

Employees are encouraged to regularly give feedback on their dining experiences using the online form. Each Dining employee is a valuable part of the team, and providing feedback to our operations helps us work together to provide the campus with a more excellent dining experience.