The U.S. Department of Labor recently launched a new smartphone application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that makes it more convenient for employees to assure they are being paid for all hours worked and getting the right pay for those hours. The DOL Timesheet app enables workers to track regular work hours, break time, and overtime hours.

Additionally, employees can add comments, view a summary of their work hours, and email the summary and gross pay as an attachment. Labor officials said that the app is intended to empower workers to stand up for their rights when they are not paid for all hours worked. "Now, instead of relying on employer records, employees can keep their own records wherever they are," says one labor official. The new application could prove to be invaluable for those employees disputing the hours worked or rate of pay.

While employers are legally required under federal and Connecticut law to maintain "true and accurate" payroll records, the US DOL states that all employers comply with this law: "[t]he record an employee keeps is one kind of evidence that [the Department of Labor] look[s] at to determine what hours were worked and what the employee was paid for those hours." Giving employees the tools to track hours and wages on a smartphone is certainly a step up from recording it "on a napkin or the back of a hand."

The Department of Labor expects to launch similar applications for other smartphones, such as Android and BlackBerry.

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