UNIFIED CONTROL OF EMPLOYEE ACCESS TO EMPLOYER COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS DURING PERIODS OF EMPLOYEE FURLOUGH

1 . A server for providing unified control of employee access to a plurality of employer communications systems during off-hour periods, comprising:

an interface configured to receive employee information from a user, the employee information, comprising:

at least one employee indicia identifying at least one off-hour employee; and

at least one period identifying an off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee;

a communications interface configured to communicate with the plurality of employer communications systems; and

a control system configured to:

determine restricted employer communications systems for the at least one off-hour employee from among the plurality of employer communications systems based on the received employee information for the at least one off-hour employee; and

instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restrict communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems during the at least one off-hour periods for the at least one off-hour employee.

2 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of employer communications systems comprises at least one of a telephonic system, a voicemail system, an email system, an instant messaging system, a network access system, a mobile communications system, a collaboration system, a video interaction system, a real-time web communications system or application, a WebRTC interaction system or application, a paging system, a push-to-talk system, and a computing device having a communications system.

3 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the at least one employee indicia identifying the at least one off-hour employee is comprised of an employee group indicia identifying a group of off-hour employees.

4 . The server of claim 1 comprised of a cloud server used by an enterprise.

5 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to determine the restricted employer communications systems for the at least one off-hour employee based on a default restricted communications systems setting.

6 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the interface is further configured to receive a list of restricted employer communications systems from the user; and

the control system is further configured to determine the restricted employer communications systems based on the received list of restricted employer communications systems from the interface.

7 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the at least one period comprises at least one off-hour start time and at least one off-hour stop time;

wherein the control system is configured to instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restrict the communications access by being configured to:

instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restrict communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems at the at least one off-hour start time; and

instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restore the communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems at the least one off-hour stop time.

8 . The server of claim 7 , wherein the interface is comprised of a graphical user interface, comprising:

an employee field configured to receive the at least one employee indicia;

an off-hour start time field configured to receive the at least one off-hour start time; and

an off-hour stop time field configured to receive the at least one off-hour stop time.

9 . The server of claim 8 , wherein the graphical user interface further comprises:

a default communications systems field; and

a plurality of communications systems fields; and

the control system is further configured to:

determine the restricted employer communications systems based on a default restricted communications system setting if the default communications systems field is selected; and

determine the restricted employer communications systems based on the plurality of communications systems fields if the default communications systems field is not selected.

10 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to:

instruct the restricted employer communications systems, by being configured to provide the employee information to a calendar system;

wherein the calendar system is configured to:

instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restrict the communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems during the at least one off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee; and

insert a calendar entry for the at least one off-hour period on the calendar system using the employee information.

11 . The server of claim 10 , wherein the interface is comprised of a graphical user interface, comprising:

an employee field configured to receive the at least one employee indicia;

an off-hour period field configured to receive the at least one off-hour period; and

a schedule button configured to provide the employee information to the control system; and

the at least one employee indicia is comprised of at least one email address.

12 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to:

access a calendar system; and

insert a calendar entry for the at least one off-hour period on the calendar system using the employee information.

13 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to:

determine that the at least one off-hour period identifying the off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee has ended; and

instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restore the communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems.

14 . The server of claim 1 , wherein the interface is further configured to receive override information from the user, the override information comprising at least one employee indicia identifying at least one off-hour employee to no longer be off-hour; and

the control system is further configured to:

instruct the restricted employer communications systems to restore the communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems based on the received override information.

15 . A method for providing unified control of employee access to a plurality of employer communications systems during off-hour periods, comprising:

receiving employee information from a user, the employee information comprising at least one employee indicia identifying at least one off-hour employee and at least one off-hour period identifying the off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee;

determining restricted employer communications systems for the at least one off-hour employee from among the plurality of employer communications systems based on the received employee information for the at least one off-hour employee; and

instructing the restricted employer communications systems to restrict communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems during the at least one off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein determining the restricted employer communications systems comprises determining the restricted employer communications systems for the at least one off-hour employee based on a default restricted communications systems setting.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein determining the restricted employer communications systems comprises determining the restricted employer communications systems based on a received list of restricted employer communications systems.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein:

the at least one off-hour period comprises at least one off-hour start time and at least one off-hour stop time; and

instructing the restricted employer communications systems, comprises:

instructing the restricted employer communications systems to restrict communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems at the at least one off-hour start time; and

instructing the restricted employer communications systems to restore the communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems at the least one off-hour stop time.

19 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising inserting a calendar entry for the at least one off-hour period on a calendar system using the employee information.

20 . A computer-readable medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by an electronic device cause the electronic device to implement a method for providing unified control of employee access to a plurality of employer communications systems during off-hour periods, the method comprising:

receiving employee information from a user, wherein the employee information includes at least one employee indicia identifying at least one off-hour employee and at least one off-hour period identifying an off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee;

determining restricted employer communications systems for the at least one off-hour employee from among the plurality of employer communications systems based on the received employee information for the at least one off-hour employee; and

instructing the restricted employer communications systems to restrict communications access of the at least one off-hour employee to the restricted employer communications systems during the at least one off-hour period for the at least one off-hour employee.