Roles and responsibilities for the 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 department level.
The tasks involved in administering employee pay at Stanford are detailed on this page, however each school's or department’s supervisor may have additional procedures and contacts.
To comply with U.S. law, Stanford administrators must verify eligibility to work in the U.S. for all new employees within three days of the employee's start date. The department administrator is responsible for collecting an I-9 Form from the employee, reviewing and photocopying the employee’s original documents, and signing the form. The original form and document photocopies are submitted to Payroll for review and document retention.
Refer to How To: Verify Completed Form I-9 and Original Documents for more information.
New employee payroll records must be created before the employee’s first pay period of work to ensure timely receipt of pay. Entering the record in advance of the employee's start date will ensure that the employee can create a SUNet ID, which is required to access most Stanford systems. See payroll dates on the Resource: Payroll Schedules and Deadlines.
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.
- An Axess Timecard record used to track the employee’s time worked and/or leave taken.
PeopleSoft Employee Record
Entry of the employee’s job record in PeopleSoft initiates other components of the employee’s system record. This entry allows the employee to begin to access systems to set up 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.
Axess Timecard Record
Axess Timecard records for new employees are created every 30 minutes, based upon entry of the job record in PeopleSoft. 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, refer to System: Axess Timecard.
Pay dates for all Stanford employees are the 7th and the 22nd of each month. Pay dates correspond to pay periods as follows:
- For pay periods beginning on the 16th and ending on the last day of the month, the pay date is on the 7th of the following month.
- For pay periods beginning on the 1st and ending on the 15th of the month, the pay date is on the 22nd of that month.
If the pay date falls on a weekend or holiday, pay is dispersed on the nearest preceding business day. For example:
- When the 7th or 22nd falls on a Saturday or Sunday, pay is dispersed on the preceding Friday.
- When the 22nd falls on Thanksgiving, pay is disbursed on the preceding Wednesday.
The tax year begins with the paycheck issued on January 7th of each calendar year for the pay period of Dec. 16 to Dec. 31 of the previous year.
Refer to Resource: Payroll Schedules and Deadlines for more information.
Provide new employees with payroll guidance, which includes information about direct deposit enrollment and completing W-4/DE-4 forms. Entries completed by 5 p.m. on the last day of each pay period will take effect on the paycheck for that period. Refer to How To: Declare or Change Income Tax Withholding Allowances for more information on federal and state income tax withholding in Axess.
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 Axess Timecard. 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 Axess Timecard each pay period. The employee's manager is responsible for verifying that the time is entered by the deadline for each pay period and taking action to request a paycheck for the employee if hours have not been submitted. Supervisory approval of time and/or leave recorded is also required. It is recommended that approvals are captured electronically in Axess Timecard. If local practice dictates, approval can be captured on paper and maintained in the local department’s files.
Refer to How To: Review and Approve Employee Timecards in Axess Timecard and How To: Review, Adjust, and Approve Employee Timecards in Axess for more information.
For self-guided step-by-step demonstrations on submitting, approving, and changing timecards, see the Learning section on the Axess Timecard page.
Semi-monthly payroll consists of PeopleSoft job records, Axess Timecard time and leave entries, employee benefits, miscellaneous deductions (e.g., parking), direct deposit, and withholding allowance elections.
Payroll must complete payroll three business days before payday to ensure that direct deposits post on payday. To ensure the accuracy of payroll, administrators are required to stay out of PeopleSoft during payroll processing.
For information on payroll processing dates, refer to Resource: Payroll Schedules and Deadlines.
Administrators should review pay for their employees by running the Gross Pay Report. Early review of pay information allows for timely correction before payday. Refer to How To: Verify Employee Pay.
PTA allocations of pay from Oracle Labor Distribution are generally posted by payday for administrator review via OBI Financial Reports (Payroll and Labor Management (PLM) and Consolidated Expenditure Reporting (CER) dashboard reports).
- If additional required pay is owed to an employee (for regular salary or hours reported after the deadline for the pay period), the administrator should request an off-cycle payment from Payroll.
- If discretionary pay is owed to an employee, the administrator should submit a one-time payment request to Payroll to add the pay to the employee’s next regular paycheck.
- If an employee has been overpaid, the administrator should immediately submit a support request to Payroll to request a calculation for recovery of the overpayment or reduction of the employee’s future paychecks. Include the employee’s name, employee ID number and the overpayment amount in the Support Request. Refer to How To: Adjust for Overpayment to Employee for more information.
Paycheck Delivery
Hard copy “live” paychecks are mailed via USPS one business day prior to payday to the mailing address on file.
Employees are encouraged to sign up for direct deposit to ensure timely receipt of pay. Refer to How To: Enroll in, Update or Cancel Direct Deposit for more information.
Stop Payment
The process to stop payment on a missing check and to issue a replacement takes approximately two business days. Waiting for the next regular mail delivery is generally suggested before requesting a stop payment.
Refer to How To: Request Stop Payment for more information.
Off-Cycle Checks
All payments requested with the Off-Cycle Check Web form, the GFS Off-Cycle Web form, or the Termination Web form are processed via direct deposit. A paper advice notice is mailed to the employee via USPS. See How To: Request an Off-Cycle Stipend Payment.
California law requires Stanford to provide a final paycheck, including all pay due, to employees on their last day of work. For information on the end of employment, managers can refer to Cardinal at Work or the PeopleSoft HRMS Termination Job Aids.
