How Can I Prove Hours Worked During a DOL Audit?

If the Department of Labor ever audits your business, there’s one thing they’ll ask for right away:

“Show us proof of the hours your employees worked.”

And if your time records are messy, missing, or not clearly connected to payroll, you could be facing fines, back pay, or worse. Even if you think you’ve been doing everything right, it won’t matter unless you can prove it on paper.

At Baron Payroll, we help businesses stay prepared—without making payroll more complicated than it needs to be.

The Easiest Way to Prove Hours Worked?

Put Punch Data on Pay Stubs.

One of the simplest, most effective ways to protect your business is to include employee punch-in and punch-out times directly on their pay stubs.

With Baron Payroll’s time and attendance system, this is built in automatically.

Every employee pay statement clearly shows:

Exact clock-in and clock-out times
A breakdown of regular and overtime hours
A transparent calculation from total hours worked to gross pay

You don’t need to pull records from multiple systems. It’s all right there—on one document.

A DOL Auditor’s Dream (and Yours Too)

Imagine this: the Department of Labor visits your office and asks to see payroll records from six months ago. If you’re using Baron Payroll, all you need to do is print a pay stub.

That one document will show:

Where the employee worked
When they clocked in and out
How many hours they worked (regular and overtime)
Exactly how their pay was calculated

This kind of clarity makes audits painless. You won’t have to scramble to find timecards, verify hours, or explain how you got from hours to pay. It’s all in black and white.

What If You’re Still Using Paper Timecards or Spreadsheets?

Now let’s look at what usually happens when a business isn’t using an integrated system:

You dig through file cabinets or old email chains for handwritten timesheets
You hope those timesheets match the hours paid on payroll
You recalculate everything manually to satisfy the auditor

That’s stressful, time-consuming, and full of risk. Even small mistakes or missing information can raise red flags.

And worse—if the DOL believes your records are unreliable, they may default to the employee’s word. That’s the last thing you want.

It’s Not Just About Compliance—It Builds Trust With Your Team

Putting punch data on the pay stub doesn’t just help with audits—it also creates transparency with your employees.

When your team can see exactly when they clocked in and out, how many hours they worked, and how their pay was calculated:

It reduces confusion and questions
It eliminates most paycheck disputes
It builds confidence that you’re doing things the right way

And if there ever is an issue, it’s easy to resolve—because the numbers are clear and accurate.

Be Proactive—Not Reactive

No one expects a DOL audit. But when it happens, you want to be ready. With Baron Payroll’s integrated time and attendance system, you’re already prepared.

No guesswork
No missing records
No last-minute stress

Just clean, clear, audit-ready documentation—every single pay period.

Want to see how easy it is to protect your business? Use our Instant Price Calculator to find out what it would cost to switch to a payroll system that’s built for compliance and peace of mind, without talking with a salesperson.