Overview: About Payroll Administration

Roles and responsibilities for administration of employee pay are set by each school or department. Most payroll administrative duties, including approval for all changes in pay, are handled at the departmental level. Below is an overview of the tasks involved in administering employee pay at Stanford. Ask your supervisor or manager for the specific procedures and contacts for your school or department.

On this page:

• Verifying Eligibility for Employment
• Entering New Employee Payroll Records
• Pay Dates and Pay Periods
• Managing Employee Personal Elections
• Approving Time & Leave
• Semi-Monthly Payroll Processing
• Reviewing Employee Pay
• Changing or Correcting Employee Pay
• Processing a Termination

 

Verifying Eligibility for Employment

To comply with U.S. law, Stanford must verify eligibility for employment for all new employees by collecting an I-9 Form and reviewing original documents establishing the employee’s eligibility to work in the U.S within 3 days of hire. The department administrator is responsible for collecting the form from the employee, reviewing and photocopying the employee’s original documents and signing the form. The original form and document photocopies are forwarded to Payroll for review and document retention. Reference Quick Steps: Collect and Submit an I-9 Form.

Entering New Employee Payroll Records

Each employee’s payroll record is comprised of three parts:

• A PeopleSoft Human Resources Management System record establishing the type of job held, the rate of pay and the type of pay (salary or hourly)
• An Oracle Labor Distribution record establishing the account (PTA) or accounts to be charged for the employee’s pay
• A Kronos record used to track the employee’s time worked and/or leave taken

New employee records must be created by the entry deadline for the employee’s first pay period of work to ensure timely receipt of pay. Entering the record as early as possible will additionally ensure that the employee has access to create a free SUNet ID, which is required to access most Stanford systems. For specific entry deadlines for each pay period, see Resources & Job Aids: Payroll Schedules & Deadlines.

PeopleSoft Employee Record

Entry of the employee’s job record in PeopleSoft sets in motion the other parts of the employee’s system record. This entry allows the employee to begin to access systems to setup a free SUNet ID and to use Axess self-service to enroll in direct deposit, declare withholding allowances and view online pay statements. Twice weekly feeds to the benefits administrator create benefit enrollment records for benefits eligible employees. Reference HR Administration Web Site.

Oracle Labor Distribution Record

Twice daily files, at noon and overnight, create new employee records in Oracle to allow creation of a Labor Schedule. Reference Quick Steps: Create / Update Labor Schedule.

Kronos Records

An overnight file creates new employee Kronos records. This gives the employee access to enter time and/or leave and the administrator access to create a work schedule, if appropriate. For more information, reference Training: Kronos Time and Leave Reporting System.

Pay Dates and Pay Periods

Pay dates for Stanford employees are the 7th and the 22nd of each month, or the nearest preceding business day if the pay date falls on a weekend or holiday.

Pay dates correspond to pay periods as follows:

• Pay date on the 7th for pay period beginning the 16th and ending the last day of the month
• Pay date on the 22nd for pay period beginning the 1st and ending the 15th of the month

Managing Employee Personal Elections

Provide new employees with the New Employee Information Form which includes information about direct deposit enrollment and withholding allowance declaration. Entries completed by 5pm on the last day of each pay period will take effect on the paycheck for that period. Employees are encouraged to sign up for the free direct deposit program to ensure timely receipt of pay on payday. Reference Quick Steps: Enroll / Update / Cancel Direct Deposit and Quick Steps: Declare or Change Withholding Allowances.

Approving Time and Leave

Non-exempt staff and hourly employees are required to report their time and/or leave each pay period. Exempt staff are required to report their leave each pay period. The most common method used to report time and/or leave taken is in the Kronos online timecard application. Ask your supervisor or manager which method is used in your school or department. Regardless of the method used, all time and leave is required to be captured in Kronos each pay period. Supervisory approval of time and/or leave recorded is also required. Approvals may be captured electronically in Kronos or maintained in paper files within the department. Reference Quick Steps: Review Employee Timecards in Kronos.

Semi-Monthly Payroll Processing

PeopleSoft job records and Kronos time and leave entries are combined with employee benefit, other miscellaneous deduction (e.g. parking, charitable giving), direct deposit and withholding allowance elections to produce the semi-monthly payroll. Payroll must be complete three business days prior to payday to ensure that direct deposits post, and paycheck arrive to departments, on payday. To ensure the accuracy of payroll it is required that administrators stay out of PeopleSoft during payroll processing. For information on payroll processing dates, see Resources & Job Aids: Payroll Schedules & Deadlines.

Reviewing Employee Pay

After the payroll run is complete, two business days before payday, administrators should review pay for their employees by running the Gross Pay Report in ReportMart1. Reference Quick Steps: Verify Employee Pay.

Early review of pay information allows for correction prior to payday. Employees can verify pay by viewing their online pay statement in Axess, which is also available two business days before payday. Reference Quick Steps: View Current or Historic Pay Statements.

Account (PTA) allocations of pay from Oracle Labor Distribution are generally posted by payday for administrator review via the FIN_EXP_279_Transaction_Detail Report in ReportMart3.

Changing or Correcting Employee Pay

• If an employee is due additional required pay (regular salary or hours reported prior to the deadline for the pay period), the administrator should request an Off-Cycle Check from Payroll. Reference Quick Steps: Request Off-Cycle Check.
• If an employee is due discretionary pay, request the addition of this pay to the employee’s next regular paycheck by submitting a one-time payment request to Payroll. Reference Quick Steps: Request One-Time Payment.
• If an employee has been overpaid, immediately send a HelpSU ticket to Payroll for further instruction. Include the employee’s name, employee id number and the overpayment amount in the HelpSU ticket. Reference Quick Steps: Adjust for Overpayment to Employee.

Processing a Termination

California law requires Stanford to provide a final paycheck, including all pay due, to employees on their last day of work. For information on processing a termination, reference the PeopleSoft HRMS Quick Reference Guide.