Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
A System and Method for Providing On-Demand Early Wage Dispersals Against
Accrued Earnings
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for providing on-
demand, instant early wage
dispersals based on accrued earnings.
The system and method provide for early dispersals to worker bank accounts and
to creditors, of
amounts that workers request at any time in a pay cycle for early wage
dispersals of accrued earnings.
Background of the Invention
A wage earner typically earns by working and recording time, typically by the
hour or portion thereof
worked. A salaried worker works usual working days and accumulates hours. They
are typically paid
every two weeks or sometimes weekly or monthly.
Contract workers, contractors or independent contractors (contractors)
typically contract with trucking
companies, construction companies or other companies acting as principal who
have the main contract
with the customer (or have a contract with an intermediary contractor as the
case may be). Contractors
are typically paid upon completion of the work required under their contract
with their principal or after
certain percentages or stages of work completion, or upon the occurrence of
other events. Upon
completion of a discrete job or portion of a job, it is common for contractors
to invoice their principal (or
be given an invoice or other record of work). For the purposes of this
disclosure, principals of
contractors can be considered employers.
Historically banks operated payroll divisions to calculate pay, calculate
source deductions, and pay the
net pay owed to workers. But typically and more recently payroll companies
also known as payment
service providers, service bureaus, payroll companies, payment providers or
pay providers (payment
providers) have performed this service. Payment providers, also called
Professional Employer
Organizations (or PEO's) are large and active. They make wage payments for
many hundreds of
employers to tens and hundreds of thousands of workers.
Typically, for an ordinary payday, an employer funds the overall worker
payroll to a payroll provider a
few business days in advance of "payday". The payroll provider receives those
funds and on payday, if
the worker is an employee, pays source deductions to third parties such as
taxing authorities and pays
workers their pay net of such deductions i.e. their net pay.
104S2039-1 1
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
As illustrated in Figure 1, should an employee require or wish to receive
accrued wages before the
payday, then they must make such a request to the employer. The employer may
or may not fulfill such
a request and might not even be in a position to provide early wages, from a
cash flow standpoint.
Prior art patents such as that to Dombroski et al. in US 8,751,338 and to
Palaniappan in US 9,202,250
provide a system whereby a third party company facilitates wage dispersals,
however it does no more
than facilitate and the employer pays the wage dispersals and later "balances
the books". The third
party company may provide a convenient means for the worker to receive the
wage dispersals from
their employer, but funds are not from a third party and not without the
numerous disadvantages of the
employer's involvement.
Summary of the Invention
A system is provided for providing automated early dispersals of accrued but
unpaid wages to a worker
who has accrued wages from one or more employers. The system comprises one or
more customizable
applications associated with the system; a communications platform in the form
of an application
programming interface for integrating and communicating in real-time with one
or more databases
containing employment and accrued wages information about the worker; a
processor; and memory
that stores instructions from each of said one or more customizable
applications. The instructions,
when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations
comprising receiving a
request for an early dispersal of wages from the worker; communicating in real-
time with any one or
more of the one or more databases via the applications programming interface
to collect employment
and accrued wages information of the worker; automatically determining an
early dispersal amount
based on employment and accrued wages information and meeting one or more pre-
determined
requirements; instantly dispersing the early dispersal amount to the worker
upon processing the early
wage amount; instantly informing the worker of the determined early dispersal
amount; and collecting,
at a time of wage payment, the early dispersal amount and a fee for service.
A system is further provided for providing automated early dispersals of
accrued but unpaid wages to a
worker who has accrued wages from one or more employers. The system comprises
one or more
customizable applications associated with the system; a communications
platform in the form of an
application programming interface for integrating and communicating in real-
time with one or more
databases containing employment and accrued wages information about the
worker; a processor; a
memory that stores instructions from each of said one or more customizable
applications. The
10452039-1 2
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform
operations comprising:
receiving a request for an early dispersal of wages from the worker;
communicating in real-time with
any one or more of the one or more database via the applications programming
interface to collect
employment and accrued wages information of the worker, instantly upon
receiving the request;
.. automatically determining an early dispersal amount based on employment and
accrued wages
information and meeting one or more pre-determined requirements; dispersing at
least a portion of the
early dispersal amount to one or more payees approved by the worker;
dispersing a remaining portion
of the early dispersal amount to the worker; informing the worker of the
determined early dispersal
amount, the portion dispersed to the payee and the portion dispersed to the
worker; and collecting, at a
time of wage payment, the early dispersal amount and a fee for service.
A method is further provided for providing automated early dispersals of
accrued but unpaid wages to a
worker who has accrued wages from one or more employers. The method comprises
the steps of:
providing one or more customizable applications associated with the system, a
communications
platform in the form of an application programming interface for integrating
with one or more
databases containing employment and accrued wages information about the worker
and a processor;
receiving a request for an early dispersal of wages from the worker;
communicating in real-time with
any one or more of the one or more database via the applications programming
interface to collect
employment and accrued wages information of the worker, instantly upon
receiving the request;
automatically determining an early dispersal amount based on employment and
accrued wages
information and meeting one or more pre-determined requirements; instantly
dispersing the early
dispersal amount to the worker upon processing the early wage amount;
instantly informing the worker
of the determined early dispersal amount; and collecting, at a time of wage
payment, the early dispersal
amount and a fee for service.
It is to be understood that other aspects of the present invention will become
readily apparent to those
skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein various
embodiments of the invention
are shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the
invention is capable for other
and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification
in various other respects,
all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Accordingly the drawings and
detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as
restrictive.
Brief Description of the Drawings
10452039-1 3
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
A further, detailed, description of the invention, briefly described above,
will follow by reference to the
following drawings of specific embodiments of the invention. The drawings
depict only typical
embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting
of its scope. In the
drawings:
Figure 1 is a flow diagram of a prior art system in which requests by a worker
for early wage dispersal
are made directly to the employer and may be dispersed by a payment provider
upon instruction from
the employer;
Figure 2 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a further embodiment of the present invention,
in which a worker is a
contractor having multiple principals and multiple payment providers; and
Figure 4 is a flow diagram of a further embodiment of the present invention,
in which early wage
dispersal may be transferred to a worker's financial institution and/or to an
approved creditor.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
This disclosure, its aspects and embodiments are not limited to the specific
methods, devices and
systems disclosed herein. Although particular systems and methods may be
disclosed, the methods and
systems of the present invention may be implemented in many forms known in the
art for such systems
and methods consistent with requirements of other financial accrued earnings
dispersal operations. The
figures and the following description illustrate specific exemplary
embodiments of the invention. It will
be appreciated by persons of skill in the art that other arrangements than
those explicitly described or
shown, embody the principles of the invention and are included in the scope of
the invention
The inventive system provides software programs and particularly application
program interface
programs or API's and various means of data exchange and software integration
to facilitate the tight
exchange of information between third partys who may disperse early wages and
payment providers.
.. The system serves to integrate information from employers, payment
providers and others who operate
financial accounts for their customers with that of third parties who would
provide responsive wage
dispersal services, as well as actuating the interfacing of employers, payment
providers and such third
10452039-1 4
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
parties who may thereby become part of a system that works together for
funding wage dispersals
against accrued earnings quickly and seamlessly.
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods by which a
third party financial
company can sustainably disperse funds from its own resources to workers who
have worked and
accrued wages and, to contractors who have provided work towards completing
jobs entitling them to
contract payments, (which can also be referred to as accrued earnings) who are
waiting for payday (or
for a contract payment date, which is also a kind of payday) to be paid.
The system operates to provide early accrued earnings dispersals by third
parties and upcoming contract
payments (which is another kind of accrued earnings). The system does so
quickly and conveniently with
low enough risk to the third party that workers and contractors (who can both
be referred to as
workers) pay a favorably low fee for the earnings dispersals. Multiple
earnings dispersals can be made in
a given pay cycle period.
The system provides a fulsome and timely exchange of all relevant human
resource and employment
information between payment providers on the one hand, who receive process and
store such
information originally received from employers and principals, with third
parties who operate systems
to receive and evaluate such information to make early wage dispersals, on the
other.
The integration between the payment providers and third parties may be very
close and supported by
Application Programming Interface (API) for real time exchange.
Further the system may provide for workers to provide employment information
directly to third parties
so that it may be utilized by the third party in providing the financial
service.
The system may use a recipe of considerations the third party would use to
ensure the maximum
amount of funds are dispersed that, along with other earnings dispersals in a
given pay period, are able
to be repaid on payday based on expected pay or net pay and for allowing the
third parties to earn fees
sufficient to cover costs and occasional default in repayment.
The inventive system may provide tight integration of employment information
including start date,
vacation and sick days, hourly rates and history of payday pay over a period
of time, along with other
employment and human resource information, between the payment provider and
the third party.
10452039-1 5
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
The inventive system may also provide for situations in which workers work for
several employers or
principals and means for calculating accrued earnings on a cumulative basis
and for ensuring the
repayment of any early dispersals thereof, across several employers or
principals. The system provides
a means for the third party to give notice(s) to the payment providers
associated with the one or more
employers or principals, such notice(s) to include amounts dispersed and
amounts to be paid to the
third party.
The system may also facilitate, at the direction of a worker, the use of
earnings dispersals as payments
to creditors of the worker, such creditors to include ones providing
necessaries of life such as home
mortgage payments and ones providing discretionary goods and services such as
the funding of financial
investment accounts. The third parties may advise and provide systems whereby
at any time, or at times
when the worker is appearing to earn less than usual, the third party may
prompt the worker and advise
of its information about reduced earnings and whereby the worker may send
instructions to the third
party to pay bills and debts for necessaries of life such as a house mortgage,
effecting a reduced spend
by the worker on discretionary goods and services such as deposits to an
investment account.
In the inventive system or method, the third party may be rewarded for
advancing funds against worker
requests by being paid a service fee in an amount that does or does not vary
with the amount of the
dispersal. The amount may vary in direct correlation to the amount of the
dispersal. Preferably it is a set
fee that does not vary, for appeal and simplicity. Preferably it is a modest
fee that does not discourage
workers to avail themselves of the system.
In the invented system the third party and the payment provider enter into an
agreement which
provides that upon making the wage dispersal(s) the third party advises the
payment provider of the
details of that and when it is payday, the payment provider splits out funds
in a first amount being the
amounts of that pay cycle's wage dispersal(s) and of any associated service
fee amount(s) and a second
amount being the worker's net pay for the relevant pay period. The system
provides that the payment
provider then transfers the split aligning with the dispersals and any fees,
to the third party and the split
aligning with the net pay, to the worker. Alternatively the service provider
may treat the amount
aligning with that pay cycle's wage dispersal(s) and of any associated service
fee amount(s) as another
deduction from pay to calculate net pay.
Upon a worker initiating a request for an earnings dispersal, the automated
system of this invention will,
upon receiving such request, using a system of computer hardware and software,
and the exchange of
10452039-1 6
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
data and information, in particular between payment provider on the one hand
(which has the
information of the employer as well as other information) and third party on
the other, instantly confirm
certain circumstances including worker's present employment or contractor
status and accrued
earnings. The system will evaluate the employment information and historical
information between the
worker and the third party and instantly arrive at a maximum amount of funds
that may then be
requested by the worker, advise the worker of the same, confirm what amount up
to or less than that
amount the worker desires will be dispersed, confirms that an imminent
dispersal of same will instantly
occur and automatically transfers such funds to the worker or worker account
which may be a bank
account or account worker controls which may be a bank account associated with
a debit card.
The "Automated Clearing House" (ACH) is an organization and system for making
payments operated by
an association of financial institutions. The ACH payments system, along with
debit cards and related
bank accounts, credit cards, payment cards, e-wallet accounts and abundant
services-access technology
and infrastructure such as ATM's, and other financial system improvements have
made it possible to
conduct more varieties of financial transactions related to worker or
contractor payments. However the
present invention utilizes an aspect of a faster, newly-available payment
system to process and disperse
funds pursuant to wage dispersal requests immediately upon receiving them.
The early dispersal amount can then be dispersed to the worker 1 in any number
of ways, either directly
or indirectly by the third party, either instantly or in a deferred manner.
In one embodiment of the present invention the system uses the faster and
almost instantaneous funds
movement achieved using payment rails set up and utilized by real time payment
service providers
(RTPPs). Where individuals hold bank accounts associated with debit cards,
RTPPs can fund money along
such payment rails to such accounts as quickly as in less than a minute or
sometimes ten to fifteen
seconds time. In embodiments of the present invention the source of such funds
include funds of the
third party held in an account of the RTPP. The system may alternately provide
a means to disperse via
a check or e-check or other means of electronic funds transfer.
The present system permits third parties being able to provide prudent instant
early wage dispersals in
limited amounts. Such limits may include limited denominations with reasonable
maximum and
minimum amounts. The present system provides that all steps can be performed
including all
automated steps, non-automated steps, and communication at a reasonable
internal cost to all
organizations involved particularly the third party, to ensure any service fee
the system provides for the
10452039-1 7
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
third party which may be agreed to be deducted from net pay and paid to the
third party is low enough
to ensure the dispersal still creates value for the worker but also provides a
sustainable system for all
participants.
Further, where requested to do so, the system facilitates the third party to
make dispersals not to the
third party bank account or other financial service in the control of the
worker, but rather as payments
against the bills, loans and debts (creditors) of workers wanting to utilize
accrued earnings ¨based early
wage dispersals for that purpose. Further, the system may facilitate the
application of dispersals against
ongoing costs of discretionary goods and services such as investing in savings
and investment financial
securities usually by way of providing third party investment advisors with
funds for the worker's
accounts.
Further the system may facilitate means whereby the worker designates
recipients of dispersals in
advance to be repeated automatically within pay cycles or for each pay cycle.
Further, the system may detect lower than usual accrued earnings within a
given portion of a given pay
cycle, and may invite the worker by communication to the worker the worker may
respond to, to
modify pre-set dispersal instructions to instead have a more significant
portion of dispersals sent to
creditors who provide necessaries of life and a smaller proportion to
providers of discretionary goods
and services. Further, such may be automated to revise the proportion
automatically.
Referring now to FIGURE 2, a system for on-demand, instant, early wage
dispersals against accrued
earnings in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention
provides a useful
improvement over usual early wage or accrued earnings dispersals which are not
always possible for
wage earners, salaried workers or contractors.
The system of the present invention avoids the negative aspects of Worker 1
requesting earlier
dispersals of pay from their Employer 4 (or if they are a contractor, of their
principal), and of requesting
them frequently including more than once in a given pay period. Payday loans
which are not payments
against accrued wages but rather are a kind of loan have unattractive aspects
including high interest
rates and other costs. The present invention avoids all these aspects of
payday loans.
The system of the present invention provides Third Party 6 whose funds are
used to facilitate the
dispersals, avoiding all these aspects of payday loans and employer advances.
Further, unlike other
systems for dispersals, the present invention provides Real Time Payment
Provider 7 which accesses the
10452039 1 8
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
payment rail funds conveyancing system, for the funds to be dispersed
instantly. Further the system
provides that Payment Provider 5 be notified of the dispersals in a given pay
cycle and to, on payday,
cause the third party 6 to be reimbursed on payday or on such later date
convenient.
Further, most workers 1 use a mobile phone and may use a mobile computing
device such as a tablet
computer. Such mobile phones utilize special software programs designed just
for mobile computing
devices and especially mobile phones, known as telephone application programs,
mobile software
applications or just "apps". There are many financial apps. Online financial
account or "banking"
software programs and apps, are common. The present invention takes advantage
of workers' ability to
access financial software programs over the internet and by uploading software
to their personal use
computing devices.
Payroll software products of payroll software providers 5, which interact with
employer or contractor of
worker 4 and receive employer or contractor 4 historical and current pay
information, as well as interact
with worker 1, are typically available to software providers 5 by way of a
software license to payroll
providers 5. Application Program Interface software programs ("API's") make it
possible for third party
.. financial organizations (third parties 6) to offer new and improved
financial services in relation to on-
demand earnings dispersals against accrued worker 1 earnings, by allowing
third parties 6 to integrate
with worker 1 employment information A (which may consist of the date worker
first worked for
employer 4, significant leaves and absence history, hourly wage, monthly pay
or contract payment rates,
current status with employer 4, hours or days worked in the present pay
period, and other relevant
employment information B. Such employment information may be supplemented by
worker 1 who may
input information in a system therefore, provided by either or both of the
employers 4, the payment
provider 5 or the third party 6. As a non-limiting example the worker 1 may
provide hours worked in the
recent days up to and including the date they make a Request or Accept an
Early Dispersal D via
obtaining access the system for an early dispersal D.
In the present invention the system provides means whereby workers 1 may
initiate and receive the
early wage dispersal services of third parties 6 through online connections.
Such means may be via
access to websites, or the system may provide mobile apps that connect through
usual computer
networks available and used by payroll providers 5 and third party 6 computer
systems. System may
provide access such that worker 1 accesses same through the same facility as
used by worker to access
payroll provide 5 -hosted pay information (payday payroll deductions of a
given worker 1, their past pay
10452039-1 9
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
and past deductions, and the like). Workers 1 can connect to seek early wage
dispersal services utilizing
such same facilities, seamlessly.
Some workers 1 have worker bank accounts 3 and account-related debit cards.
Some do not have bank
accounts; rather they may be paid by check and cash checks for spending money.
They may use stored-
value cards, payment cards and e-wallet accounts. Still, the within invention
can function
notwithstanding such variations on personal spending vehicles and still
provide benefits. It is adaptable
to variations of spending vehicles workers may utilize and which may develop
in the future.
Therefore the system of the present invention must provide means for third
party 6 companies to
provide services and operate in systems where they may consider the most
relevant, current
employment information and history, where the prudent amount of funds to
disperse may be
calculated immediately upon request for same, where the dispersals are
dispersed instantly, where the
worker 1 receives them instantly, where this service is provided for a fee,
and where the third party 6 is
reliably and consistently reimbursed all so as to make the system sustainable.
To do this embodiments
of the present invention provide a system whereby employment information held
by payment providers
5 is available in real time by and to third parties 6. System provides that
payment providers 5 and third
parties 6 tightly integrate their payroll (and employment information) systems
with their dispersal
systems. The system provides real time payment providers 8 who can convey
funds to bank accounts
and bank accounts with debit cards associated with them, instantly. The system
provides that third
parties 6 may utilize the deposit account services of real time payment
providers. The system of the
present invention provides a means for third parties 6 to work with payment
providers 5 of contractors
as a kind of employer 4 and as such the system is robust and may operate in a
variety of work
circumstances.
Further referring to Figure 2, a flow diagram shows a system by which worker
1, third parties 6,
payment providers 5, employers 4 and real time payment providers (RTPP) 7 can
interact directly or
indirectly with a network or system to utilize one or more services offered.
In Figure 2, the worker 1 has worked and has accrued earnings that may be
accrued wages. Figure 2
provides a system by which the worker 1 may receive early accrued earnings
dispersals funded by a third
party 6.
Also, worker 1 and their financial institution 2 have set up an account 3 to
receive wage, salary or
contract payments, pay bills, etc. Such account 3 may be connected to a debit
card.
10452039-1 10
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
Employer 4 will have shared worker 1 employment information A with the payment
provider 5 the
employer 4 uses to handle employer 4 payroll.
Third party 6 financial organization has integrated its computers, software
and wage dispersal-
processing systems with payment provider's 5 payroll systems and can share
employment information
data B for worker 1 which data includes the employment information pertaining
to worker 1 shared by
employer 4 with the payment provider 5. Third party 6 and payment provider 5
have entered into
agreements for this integration of systems and for the repayment to third
party 6 of monies including
early accrued earnings dispersals E third party 6 disperses to worker 1 on
account of accrued earnings in
a given pay period.
Worker 1 and third party 6 enter into an agreement for third party to, upon
considering a worker 1
request for same, pay early accrued earnings dispersals to worker 1 based on
accrued earnings of
worker 1 in a given pay period based on worker 1 connecting to an automated
system which may be
access to an online database of the payment provider 5 (the same database of
payment provider 5 that
contains past pay, pay deductions and other relevant pay information the
payment provider 5 typically
provides worker 1). System may provide that third party 6 automated request
evaluation systems
automatically and instantly, through tight integration with payment provider 5
payroll system and with
the employment information available therein, verify current employment
status, consider various
earnings information, parameters and factors, and determine a maximum amount
able to be dispersed.
System provides that third party 6 automatically provides worker 1 notice of
that maximum amount of
funds they may choose to receive for the particular early wage dispersal.
System provides that worker 1
may indicate the amount within that maximum they desire to receive as an early
wage dispersal, which
may be a sum above a minimum amount, and may be the less than their then-
accrued earnings. Such
maximum amount may be a one-time maximum in the sense of a maximum for that
dispersal or a
maximum dispersal for that date. There may be a minimum time lag between
dispersals such as a
calendar day or such as 24 hours. The system may provide that where a fee for
a dispersal is required to
be paid to the third party 6, the same fee will be required, regardless of the
amount of the dispersal.
Advantageously to the worker 1, the system both automatically and instantly
confirms the amount the
worker is seeking and facilitates worker 1 receiving funds through the
services of a real-time-payment
provider (RTPP) 7. In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, as worker 1 can have
provided the third party
6 with information any minimum banking information such as debit card
information or email that
would enable the worker 1 to receive funds into such accounts. The present
system provides can then
10452039-1 11
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
instruct the RTPP 7, to dispense funds to the worker's 1 account. System
provides that such funds may
be taken from an account 8 of the third party 6 held by the RTPP 7 such
dispensing to be using the real
time payment rails. RTPP 7 dispenses the early wage dispersal R into the
worker account 3. Third party 6
informs payment provider 5 of the amount of the wage dispersal(s), and any fee
or amount(s) third
party 6 and worker 1 have agreed third party 6 will receive for the steps
taken by third party 6.
Third party 6 provides information including the amount of the early wage
dispersals dispersed to the
worker 1 to the payment provider 5, and under the agreement payment provider 5
retains and
calculates a total of early pay dispersals and any fees payable to the third
party 7 for system dispersals
to that worker 1 for that pay period.
Prior to payday, employer 4 of worker 1 has provided payment provider 5 with
payroll funds which
include the pay of the worker 1 and pay of other workers. On payday, payment
provider 5 splits the out
funds equal to the total of early wage dispersal(s) in that pay period, and
fees if any from the worker's 1
net pay due the worker 1 that present payday and transfers same to an account
controlled by third
party 6. Alternatively, an aggregate repayment to the third party is provided
by the payment provider 5
equivalent to most or all workers who have used the system for early
dispersals over that payment
perdiod.
Third party 6 provides funds to RTPP 7 in advance of any dispersal, sufficient
to permit there to be funds
for instantaneous dispensing.
The system provides sufficient fees to allow the third party 6 to cover its
internal costs including any
costs of capital to fund the RTPP 7 account, and be able to perform this
service for the worker 1 on an
ongoing basis for the long term.
The present embodiment of the system of this invention may provide simple,
reduced variations of
parameters within the system. It may set early dispersal minimums and
maximums, it may set an
amount which any early dispersal must be a multiple of, it may set a minimum
period of time before
another advance after a first early dispersal can be made within a given pay
cycle, and it may set a
maximum amount of total advances which may be funded in a given pay cycle, and
a maximum number
of dispersals in a given pay cycle.
10452039-1 12
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
In a variation of this embodiment, as the Real time payment provider 7 can
fund early dispersals into an
account associated with a debit card only or most easily, the system may
provide that it only funds early
dispersals received by worker 1 in a financial account 3 that is associated
with a debit card.
In a non-limiting example the system may provide that worker 1 may receive a
minimum of $50, a
maximum of $200 as any given early dispersal. The fee for any dispersal,
regardless of amount may be
$5. The maximum of all dispersals in a given pay cycle may be $1,000. The
system may provide that the
worker is unable to receive a dispersal until the next day after, or until the
passage of 24 hours, after a
first dispersal. The worker may be a limited of 5 dispersals in a given pay
cycle, or a limit may be set
based on available funds as a percentage of net accrued earnings.
In an alternate embodiment, the system may apply a monthly subscription fee to
the worker for use of
the system, said monthly subscription fee covering a predetermined number of
dispersal requests per
month and a maximum dispersal amount per transaction and/or per month.
Figure 3 is a flowchart that describes the system of the embodiment of Fig. 2
and showing the system
may include additional employers who may be principals (and workers may be
contractors). Two or
more employers may share a single payment provider. Thus there may be one or
several payment
providers 5, and whereso, the system may provide a worker lwho is a
contractor. Worker 1 may work
for several employers 4, who are principals of the worker 1 who pay the worker
1 per load carried from
a directed location to another. Whereso, the system may provide a separate
payment provider 5 for
each worker 1 although in some variations of the system, the same payment
provider may provide
payroll services for both employers.
FIGURE 3 shows that each payroll provider 5 (1) and 5 (2) is tightly
integrated with the third party 6, for
sharing of relevant employment information used by third party 6.
The system of this embodiment provides that at the time of a request, third
party may calculate accrued
earnings of worker 1 respecting one or more employers 4, and may provide an
earnings dispersal based
on only the accrued earnings of worker 1 with respect to one employer 4.
Alternatively third party 6 may
calculate accrued earnings of worker 1 with respect to both employers 4.
Alternatively third party 6 may
have already generated and stored for any future request a current calculation
of accrued earnings of
worker 1 with respect to one or both employers 4.
10452039-1 13
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
In this embodiment, where employees 1 are contractors, third party receives
employment information
sufficient to be informed what jobs are completed, what jobs have reached
completion to a stage
sufficient to entitle the worker 1 to be entitled to be paid and to conclude
whereso, there are accrued
earnings, and what jobs have been worked on but there is no accrued earnings
respecting them. A non-
limiting example of employment information used by system of this variation is
whether an invoice, time
sheet, ticket, field ticket or job completion form.
Upon third party 6 considering employment information it may cause RTPP 7 to
fund an advance against
accrued earnings to worker 1 in the usual fashion. Third party 6 may give a
notice of having done so to
one or both payment providers and such notice may be in the full amount of the
advance. Where such
notice is given to both payment providers, it may provide an amount that is a
portion of the advance
and a portion of the fee if any.
The system of this embodiment provides that repayment of the advance and fee
if any is performed in
the same fashion as in the original [first] embodiment, namely that upon
payday, the payment provider
5 provides funds to the third party 6 equal to the amount of the notice.
As will be appreciated by a person of skill in the art having an understanding
of the invention of the
present embodiment, any variation of amounts of both employers 4 and payment
providers 5 can be
accommodated by this system.
As a non-limiting example a worker 1 may receive an overall job whereby worker
is directed by
employer 1 to drive a loaded truck from point A to point B and return
unloaded. Employer 1 and worker
1 may agree that worker will be paid $500 to drive the truck from A to B, and
$400 to return to A, and
they may agree the whole will be payable in total upon having completed both
trips. Upon having driven
the loaded truck from A to B, employer 4, or worker 1, will cause worker 1
employment information to
show having completed such job. There may be a ticket or job performance
document created to make
a record of same for use in functions beyond the ambit of the system here
described. But, having access
to such employment information, and there being a means for worker to request
an advance against
accrued earnings, upon the ticket being completed and recorded, third party
financial information
system calculates worker's accrued earnings so to include such ticket. Upon
worker 1 making an inquiry
and learning of the amount of accrued earnings record to their credit, and
upon being advised the
minimum and maximum amount they may receive in the form of an advance, worker
may request, and
third party may cause RTPP to advance a sum which may be $200, which sum is
funded to worker
10452039-1 14
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
account 3 using RTPP and funds in third party 6 account held by RTPP, and
worker 1 may access such
amount instantly, thereby becoming able to purchase goods and services right
away such as fuel for his
truck or food for personal consumption.
The system may provide for a fee to be payable to the third party 6 for the
steps it takes. Such fee may,
for example, be $5. Regardless, third party 6 advises the payment provider 5
related to the employer 4
for whom worker 1 transported the load, of the amount of the advance ($200)
and the fee which may
be $5. On the date worker 1 is paid for driving both trips and is otherwise
owed $900, payment provider
5 will split such sum into two parts and pay the worker 1 $900 less $205, and
will fund to the third party
6 the sum of $205.
Similarly in this non-limiting example, the worker may seek a further advance.
Third party 6 may make
available or provide ongoing calculations and information to worker 1, of what
accrued earnings exist on
account of the portion of the overall job. In the non-limiting example, if the
fee for the first advance was
$5, and the advance was $200, accrued earnings will still exist (the remaining
portion of the $500 less
the $205 will be accrued earnings). Worker may access that information at
anytime, or be advised of
that, and also of the minimum and maximum amount they may request.
Worker may request $150. Such may be funded in the same manner, with the same
notice and same
repayment process as system provided for the first advance. Such may be prior
to pay day, and may be
prior to worker 1 driving the unloaded truck from B to A. System may provide
that worker 1 may only
request one advance per calendar day, or per 24 hours. However, in this non-
limiting example if worker
1 requested a first early dispersal of $200, and another of $150 on a timely
basis, and such were
dispersed, and if fees of $5 were established for each early dispersal, then
on payday, again assuming
worker 1 has driven the load from A to B and the truck, unloaded from B to A,
third party 5 performs a
different split and pays the worker $900 less $360, and funds $360 to the
third party.
In the non-limiting example, accrued earnings may still exist prior to worker
1 driving the unloaded truck
from B to A, and may exist in the amount of $140. Same may further accumulate
upon the worker 1
driving the truck from B to A (unloaded). Then, the worker 1 will have, upon a
ticket being issued for
such portion of the overall job, accrued earnings of $540. At such time,
worker 1 may yet be unpaid and
waiting for some days before payday. Employer 4 may only pay truck drivers
once a month, or twice. If
worker 1 wishes a third early dispersal of accrued earnings of $200 before
payday, the system provides
means as described and as would be understood, for them to be so paid, before
payday, and for the
10452039-1 15
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
exchange of information and for the payment by the payment provider of
remaining pay F on payday,
and for the payment of early dispersals and fees G to the third party 6, on
pay day. Worker may drive
trucks for several trucking firms who may use different pay providers. As
would be understood the
system of the embodiment of Figure 3 adapts to provide the third party to
calculate accrued earnings
established by worker 1 with all employers 4, and to rely on, and give notice
to, any number or
combination of payment providers 5 of employers 4 to cause repayment of early
dispersals on relevant
next paydays. The system is adaptable to each employer having a different
payday if that is the case as,
the third party has up to date and real time, current employment information
from each payment
provider and has certainty of accrued earnings, when pay days fall on the
calendar and other relevant
information.
FIGURE 4 shows a variation of the system which operates to cause funding of
advances to be received
by organizations associated with the worker 1 who may be creditors of the
worker 1, and with the
variation thereof where the worker 1 has pre-authorized the third party 6 to
fund such organizations
with set amounts and on regular cycles that may be determined with reference
to pay cycles of the
worker 1.
In this variation, and in particular where a significant percent of the worker-
associated organizations as
compared to all of them, are the subject of pre-authorized fundings, the third
party 6 is, unlike any other
financial organization known in the art, uniquely able to understand the cash
flow of worker 1.
As a non-limiting example worker 1 may be a salaried employee of an employer
4, with an entitlement
to receive quarterly bonus payments as additional earnings, which may be
performance related. It may
be regardless, such bonuses are usual in times when the goods or services of
the employer 4 of worker 1
is enjoying a strong demand and high prices for the goods and services it
provides to its relevant
consumers.
However, the worker 1 may have a history of earning the same amount for a long
period of time.
Further as an aspect of this example, worker 1 may have pre-authorized all if
their usual payments
required for their necessaries of life such as their mortgage payment, their
insurance payments
(household, medical, vehicle and any other), their utility payments (heating
fuel, electricity, municipal
services), their phone, home and mobile computing device and related payments,
and may have pre-
authorized some discretionary payments that occur on a regular basis (funding
into an investment
account in their name with a financial investment firm).
10452039-1 16
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
In this variation of the system, the system may provide that the third party
monitor the amount of
accrued earnings at a single time, continuously, or on several occasions in a
given time period for
example in a given month. Whereso, system may provide that worker 1 and third
party 6 arrange to
ensure pre-authorized fundings occur using advances of accrued earnings such
to be paid to third
parties as described; but, in the event accrued earnings accrue more slowly or
significantly less amount
at any given point in time, worker 1 an d third party 6 arrange the payment to
the investment
organization be interrupted or reduced until such time as usual accrued
earnings are accumulating in
favor of the worker 1.
In a variation of the system, there is a variation of the pre-authorized
payment system of the present
invention. In this variation, the fee payable for an advance is nil, a
negative number, or is very low; and,
the system provides that a particular worker-associated organization the third
party 6 is pre-authorized
to provide early dispersal funds to, receives such funds frequently.
Frequently may be daily, and the
early dispersals may be small amounts. Worker-associated organization
receiving early dispersals of this
variation of the system may be a financial institution that has loaned the
worker money under or
.. secured by, a residential property mortgage advanced for the purchase of
the worker's home. In this
variation of the system, the mortgage holding institution is amenable to
receiving mortgage payments
frequently and in the non-limiting example of the system providing daily
dispersals, daily. Alternatively,
the mortgage holder may receive mortgage payments on every normal work day of
the calendar year,
and not on weekends, statutory holidays, or any other days not considered
normal work days in a given
calendar year, and, the system may provide dispersals on those work days.
Advantages of this variation include the reduction of mortgage interest
(portion of the mortgage
payment that is payable by the worker 1 to the mortgage-holding financial
organization for the worker's
use of the amount advanced under the mortgage). Such reduction may be likely
due to the faster
repayment as compared to mortgages repaid monthly, bi-monthly, or weekly. The
system may provide
there be no fee for advances of accrued earnings funded to such financial
organizations connected to
the worker due to such financial institutions providing the third party with a
payment or financial
benefit of a kind, in consideration of the expectation that it is more likely
that the funds they advanced
the worker 1 will more likely be repaid timely and at all, and that the
advanced funds will be repaid
more quickly, in turn allowing the institution the chance to experience fewer
late mortgage payments
and fewer defaults, and be able to receive funds earlier and re-advance more
funds.
10452039-1 17
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
In a variation of this embodiment third party is a financial organization
holding a mortgage and it holds
such loan account separately, and upon an early dispersal of accrued earnings,
transfers a credit to the
mortgage account which is debited on pay day, or, it holds actual funds in a
separate account for such
early dispersals used for this purpose and transfers such funds from that
account, to the mortgage
account. As will be understood by a person of skill any number of accounting
variations will suffice to
present the advantages of the present invention. Further, instead of a
mortgage holding organization,
recipient of frequent early dispersals may be any other creditor of worker so
prepared to so accept
frequent payments. Further, the frequency of payments may be lower than daily,
or in some cases
higher, without affecting the overall structure of the variation of the
present invention all as will be
.. appreciated by a person of skill in the art to which the present inventions
pertain.
The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable
any person skilled in the
art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to those
embodiments will be readily
apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined
herein may be applied to other
embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus,
the present invention is
.. not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be
accorded the full scope
consistent with the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular,
such as by use of the article
"a" or "an" is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so
stated, but rather "one or
more". All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the
various embodiments described
throughout the disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of
ordinary skill in the art
are intended to be encompassed by the elements of the claims. Moreover,
nothing disclosed herein is
intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure
is explicitly recited in the
claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 USC
112, sixth paragraph, unless
the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for" or "step for".
10452039-1 18
CA 3018323 2018-09-21
