The US Department of Labor has recently released their new smartphone application, and instead of explaining its advantages to employers, they state the reason for this app is so the employees do not have to rely on their employer’s records. What? Quoting, “The first DOL application DOL application for smartphones is a timesheet to help employees independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they are owed…This information could prove invaluable during a Wage and Hour Division investigation” and “This new technology is significant because, instead of relying on their employer’s records, workers now can keep their own records.”

So my interpretation of the message the DOL is presenting is employers are no longer to be trusted keeping and recording time worked by their employees or to determine the wages they are owed. The current DOL Administration continues to show their bias against employers through this press release.

With that being said, I believe the actual application could be useful to employers and mobile employees. The application makes it pretty easy to track hours through a few pushes of buttons and at the end of the pay period can be emailed to the supervisor for approval, or for the purposes of the DOL to the employee’s attorney or DOL representative. Providing employers with a free application to improve recording time worked by employees would be very beneficial to the productivity of our country and economy. I do not know how the DOL thinks that economic recovery is going to happen by attacking employers at every turn. The DOL should have released the application with information going to employers getting “buy in” and stating the benefits to them provided by the app.