Earlier this month, with much self-congratulatory fanfare, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor recently rolled out what it probably thought was an awesome idea: an iPhone app that “allows employees to independently track the hours they work and determine the wages they believe they are owed.”
But there is a major problem. The app, “DOL – Timesheet,” does not work properly and gives bad legal advice. In some instances hours worked are not accounted for because the app improperly excludes certain breaks from the total — ironically, breaks that employers are not allowed to deduct under the same federal laws that the Wage and Hour Division enforces. In these instances, employees who use this app could be losing out on pay to which they are entitled.