Employee time entry and accounting system

A time and attendance system for a workplace having a plurality of workstations where a plurality of employees perform their assigned jobs, comprising:

• a plurality of identification cards individually assigned to a plurality of employees, wherein each of the cards contains coded information specific to the employee assigned the card;
• a plurality of time clocks having a card reader with each time clock being positioned at a location in the workplace which is adjacent to at least one of the employees' work stations, the time clock configurable between a closed state and an open state, wherein the time clock enters the open state only in response to reading an authorized one of the plurality of identification cards, and wherein, in response to reading one of the plurality of employee identification cards while in the open state, the time clock generates a set of data signals indicative of the information encoded on the employee identification card that was read;
• a central computer having a memory which, in response to receiving the set of data signals from the time clock, stores information indicative of the time the identification cards were scanned;
• a first number of data structures associated with the computer and containing information directed to the employee identified in said one employee identification card;
• and
• means, associated with the computer and responsive to said indicative information, for providing changes to data structures defining employee payroll or benefits information in response to signals from the time clock relating to the employee identified in said one employee identification card.

A time and attendance system for a workplace having a plurality of workstations where a plurality of employees perform their assigned jobs interactively accumulating and processing accounting information for hourly employees in a work place comprising:

• employee identification means for individually identifying the employees in the work place;
• supervisor identification means for individually identifying the supervisors in the work place;
• time clock means, configurable between a closed state and an open state, remotely mounted in a plurality of locations in the workplace so that the time clock means are adjacent to at least one of the employee's work stations, for reading the employee identification means and thereby generating data signals indicative of when the employee identification means was read by the time clock means;
• control means, connected to the time clock means for placing the time clock means into the open state upon the time clock means reading an authorized one of the supervisor identification means;
• central computing means for storing information received from the time clock means, and for reviewing stored information to generate return signals to the time clock means and for generating payroll information and reports;
• a first number of data structures associated with the computer and containing information directed to an employee identified by the employee identification means;
• and
• means, associated with the computer and responsive to the generated data signals for providing changes to the data structures relating to an individual employer identified by the employee identification means read by the time clock means.

In a time and attendance system comprising a plurality of card reading time clocks having a card reader, configured to read a plurality of employee identification cards and a plurality of supervisor identification cards, and a central computer having a memory which receives signals from the plurality of time clocks, a method of interactively accumulating and processing accounting information for employees in a workplace comprising the steps of:

• scanning one of the plurality of supervisor identification cards through the card reader;
• opening the computerized time clock if the scanned supervisor identification card is authorized;
• scanning one of the plurality of supervisor identification cards through the card reader;
• retrieving selected data from the scanned employee identification card;
• transmitting the selected data to the central computer;
• storing information in the employee's file in the memory of the central computer so as to define payroll parameters for that employee;
• and
• scanning the identification card assigned to the supervisor through the card reading device attached to
• the computerized time clock to close the computerized time clock.