DOL Develops iPhone App for Employees to Track Time

I received an email from the DOL today that made me scratch my head.  It seems the DOL Wage and Hour Division has developed an iPhone "app" that is a "timesheet" that lets employees record the hours that they work.  The DOL explanation of the app is that it will "help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed."  It will let employees "track regular work hours, break time and any overtime hours for one or more employers."

There is a "glossary, contact information and materials about wage laws" accessible through links to the Web pages of the department's Wage and Hour Division.  The time sheet the app generates can be reviewed and emailed as an attachment.

The purpose of the app seems to be to permit employees to "keep their own record" instead of "relying on their employers' records."  The DOL says: "This information could prove invaluable during a Wage and Hour Division investigation when an employer has failed to maintain accurate employment records."

The app does not yet provide for calculation of tips, commissions, bonuses, deductions, holiday pay, pay for weekends, shift differentials and pay for regular days of rest.  Android and BlackBerry versions are being considered.  

The reason I am skeptical is that, as anyone knows who has tracked time worked, the rules on when the work day begins and ends are not always easy to understand. Just yesterday, for example, I read about a court of appeals decision involving an employee who thought they were "working" when they drove to work because the employee had done some minor tasks at home.  I was also reviewing hand written timesheets where one employee added time for their commute from home to work and back, none of which was properly compensable.

In most instances, the start and end of the work day will not be difficult to discern.  This app, while well-intentioned, will permit employees to record their time based upon their own idea as to when the work day should start and end.  The glossary is no help; it simply instructs employees to record the hour "at what time you started working."  The app gives no caution to employees that there may be grey areas that must be considered, and worse, seems to imply that the DOL will regard the hours an employee records in the app as more accurate than the employer's official time records. 

If nothing else, the app serves as a reminder that employers should scrupulously keep accurate time records for their non-exempt employees.