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. Ask the school’s or department’s supervisor or manager for the specific 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 3 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 forwarded to Payroll for review and document retention.
Refer to How To: Verify Completed Form I-9 and Original Documents for more information. Additional information on Form I-9 is available on Employment Eligibility Verification and I-9 Compliance.
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 as early as possible 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 sets in motion the other parts 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. Refer to the HR Administration Website for more information.
Oracle Labor Distribution Record
Twice-daily files, at noon and overnight, create new employee records in Oracle to allow creation of a Labor Schedule. Refer to How To: Create/Update Labor Schedules for more information.
Axess Timecard Record
New employee Axess Timecard records 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 the New Employee Payroll Information, 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 Federal and State Income Tax Withholding (W-4/DE-4) via Stanford Axess for more information.
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. 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 Timecards for Part-Time Non-Exempt Salaried Employee 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 3 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.
PeopleSoft will complete the payroll run 2 business days before payday. When completed, administrators should review pay for their employees by running the Gross Pay Report in Oracle Business Intelligence (OBI) (refer to How To: Verify Employee Pay for more information). Early review of pay information allows for timely correction before payday.
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 prior to the deadline for the pay period), the administrator should request an off-cycle paycheck 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. Department administrators can verify the mail code used for a payment by running the Gross Pay Report in OBI. 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 2 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
The Stanford Graduate Financial Support (GFS) administrator has the authorization to occasionally request an off-cycle stipend payment before the next regular payday for an individual in the assistantship and fellowship program for graduate study, as well as appointments for postdoctoral scholars and other non-matriculated graduate students in the GFS program. All payments requested with the Off-Cycle Check Webform, the Termination Webform or the paper Special Salary Processing (SSP) Form are processed via direct deposit. A paper advice notice is mailed to the employee via USPS.
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, refer to the Termination Process on the HR Management System website and the PeopleSoft HRMS Termination Job Aids.
