Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Accounting
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-08
2004-12-07
Akers, Geoffrey R. (Department: 2164)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Accounting
Reexamination Certificate
active
06829588
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a system and method for providing payroll distribution services to employees.
BACKGROUND ART
Over the years, a variety of payroll systems have evolved for paying employee salaries as well as expenses. The task of a company payroll system is to determine what an employee is due and issue the appropriate sum to the employee. Additionally, under federal and state law a company must inform the employee in writing regarding deductions from his or her pay, such as tax withholdings.
A problem confronting employers is the difficulty associated with paying dispersed employees. Dispersed employees are employees who travel and are frequently away from the employer's headquarters, are located at work sites separated by large distances from the employer, or for one reason or another are difficult to locate. Since the dispersed employee is difficult to find, an employer must undertake increased expense and labor to make the necessary payments and provide the required deduction information to the employee.
In the convenience store or grocery store environment the problem of getting employees their pay as well as other information is quite evident. Typically, a grocery store or convenience store chain has a large number of stores dispersed across a wide area. In order to pay employees, generally, a district manager or other such company employee travels from store to store to deliver the employee's pay in the form of checks. If all the employees of the particular store are present or are still working at the store the company has fulfilled its obligation to pay their employees. However, if an employee no longer works at the store the payroll checks already delivered to the store must be retrieved and delivered to the employee wherever the employee may be found. The company, of course, must undergo additional expense to find and then pay the employee. As readily apparent this method of paying employees is extremely inefficient and costly for the company.
Another example of the problems associated with paying dispersed employees is exemplified by the trucking industry. Truck drivers travel across the country and may be away from the company headquarters for several days if not weeks or months thereby making it difficult to send salary and business expenses via the postal system. Additionally, the increased labor and postage costs associated with attempting to locate and pay dispersed employees has prompted some employers to look for new ways to manage their payrolls.
One payroll method created to solve the problem of the transient truck drivers, includes issuing an electronic card to the truck driver which gave the truck driver access to an account. The account contained the truck driver's salary as well as any expense reimbursements incurred while on the road. The trucker could go to a service center, an automatic teller machine, or other establishments which accept the electronic card to withdraw his salary and expense reimbursements. While this method of paying the truck driver's salaries fulfilled its intended purpose, it did not address the problem of getting the tax withholding information and other employment information to the employee. Therefore, the employer was still required to provide the employee with a check stub or similar document containing tax withholding information. Generally, an employer would print and mail the tax withholding information to the employee's last known address. Consequently, the employer incurs expenses related to the time and effort involved in printing and mailing the tax withholding documents to the employee.
Therefore, what is desirable is a method and system which improves on the prior art by providing the employee with remote access to sums of money due the employee, and the personal employee information such as, hours and wages, taxes withheld, deductions, and personal as well as general company announcements.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a method and system for allowing an employee to withdraw sums of money and access employment information, including tax withholding data at a location convenient for the employee, such as convenience stores, grocery stores and the like.
In accordance with this and other objects, the present invention provides a system and method for managing a company payroll distribution. An employee is issued an identifier which may include a user ID code and a password for accessing an account. The employee may access the account at a remote payroll distribution device. The remote payroll distribution device enables the employee to withdraw a sum of money up to the total amount of money in the account, as well as receive personal employee information as typically displayed on a check stubs and other company issued documents. Other features include printing checks for payment to various establishments which effectively eliminates the need for bank checks. The present invention fulfills state and federal law requiring delivery of tax withholding information to employees. Furthermore, the method and system affords the employee greater flexibility than prior art systems as the employee has greater access to monies and information regarding his employment when traveling.
Thus, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention a method is provided for managing an employer's payroll while providing a way for an employee to receive the pay and obtain information for the employee. The method includes providing an electronic account for the employee and a delivery site accessible to the employee, providing the employee with a presentable personal identifier for identifying the employee at the delivery site and allowing the employee to access the electronic account, and transferring pay and information for the employee into the employee's electronic account. Finally, the method provides for disbursing to the employee at the delivery site upon presentation of the employee's personal identifier a selected portion of the pay transferred into the employee's electronic account and information for the employee.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for managing an employer's payroll while providing a way for an employee to receive the pay and obtain information for the employee. The system includes an electronic account for the employee, wherein pay and information for the employee is transferred, and a presentable personal identifier for identifying the employee and allowing the employee to access the electronic account. The system further includes a delivery site accessible to the employee, wherein a selected portion of the pay transferred into the employee's electronic account and information for the employee is disbursed to the employee at the delivery site upon presentation of the employee's personal identifier.
The above object and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the best mode for carrying out the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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“Modular ATM Gives Boost to Diebold”-Akron Beacon Journal-Jul. 12, 1997.*
“Virginia Bank to Gain Accounts through Pact with Debit Card Issuer”-American Banker v164n93p7 May 17, 1999.*
Western Union -First Data Corp. “Trans$Pay . . . soon to be the Western Union Pay Card”.
Western Union—First Data Corp., “FDX-400 Remote Payroll Distribution”.
Seifert Dean A.
Stoutenburg Earney E.
Akers Geoffrey R.
Brooks & Kushman P.C.
First Data Corporation
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