---
type: SQLite Table
title: employees
description: The whitelist of employee emails allowed to log attendance, with a soft-delete active flag.
resource: backend/src/db/index.ts
tags: [data-model, sqlite]
timestamp: 2026-08-12T00:00:00Z
---

# employees

The employee whitelist. A row here (with `active = 1`) is what lets a Google
account log in as an employee — see [Auth flow](/docs/architecture/auth-flow.md).
Admins are **not** rows in this table; they're resolved purely from the
`ADMIN_EMAILS` env var.

# Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `id` | INTEGER PK | autoincrement |
| `email` | TEXT | unique, lowercased on write |
| `name` | TEXT | nullable; filled in from the Google profile on first login (`touchEmployeeName` in `backend/src/services/employees.ts`), only if still null |
| `active` | INTEGER | 1 = can log in, 0 = soft-deleted |
| `created_at` | TEXT | ISO 8601 UTC, set by SQLite default |

# Behavior

- **Add** (`addEmployee`): upsert by email. If a soft-deleted row exists for
  that email, it's reactivated (`active = 1`) rather than duplicated.
- **Remove** (`deactivateEmployee`): sets `active = 0`. This is a **soft**
  delete by design — [attendance_events](./attendance-events.md) rows keep
  referencing the employee, so historical stats for a removed employee are
  still computable and re-adding the same email restores access without
  losing history.

# Related

- [attendance_events](./attendance-events.md) — `employee_id` references this table
- [Employees API](/docs/api/admin-routes.md)
