Business and Financial Policies and Procedures
 

All Payroll Policies

Payroll Administration

Units must designate a contact to serve as liaison between Payroll Service Centers and the employees of their unit. The payroll contact ensures communications from University Payroll and Benefits (UPB) are distributed in a timely manner and works with the employee and Payroll to resolve payroll questions. Each unit must have a contingency plan in case the contact is ill or on vacation.

The University complies with the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 765, Act ILCS 1025), as well as the escheatment laws of other states as they relate to uncashed checks.

Payroll Time and Attendance

Employees are paid either once a month or every other week (bi-weekly). Their pay is directly deposited into their bank account.

Monthly - Administrative, academic professionals, and graduate assistants are automatically paid monthly, based on their job record in Banner. Units do not need to report their time.

Bi-weekly - Units must report hours worked and benefit time used, according to published schedules and deadlines. Units use one of two methods to report employee work time:

  • Banner WEB Time for Employees
  • Department Time Entry

Units with bi-weekly payroll must establish these four necessary roles in Banner:

  • Employees for WEB Time
  • A Department Time Entry Originator
  • A Department Time Entry Approver
  • A Superuser for Time Entry

The unit must approve the time entered in WEB Time and Department Time. Approvers cannot approve their own time. If an Approver is also an hourly employee required to submit time, a Proxy or Superuser other than the designated Approver must approve the Approver’s time.

If you are involved in creating a new unit that will need to report employee time, that new unit must have its business need approved by University Accounting and Financial Reporting. Once the new unit is approved, it will be set up in the Finance module of Banner and available for use as a Time Sheet organization for time entry.

Your unit must be set up in Banner with a designated Banner payroll Superuser before payroll can be processed for your unit.

Units must submit employee job changes to their campus Human Resources Office.

Submit a payroll adjustment for a bi-weekly or monthly paid employee for any of the following:

  • Additional pay that was not reported or paid earlier
  • Hourly rate changes
  • Additional hours worked
  • Separation vacation or sick leave due

Payroll Operations

Some fringe benefits are subject to employment taxes and must be reported on Form W-2. Units that provide the benefits must report the value to University Payroll and Benefits (UPB).

Employees accrue vacation and sick leave based on their type of appointment. When an employee terminates employment, the accrued and unused vacation and 50% of compensable sick leave hours, if applicable, are paid to them at the employee's current rate of pay averaged for multiple jobs.

The University complies with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations that stipulate tip income is subject to tax withholding and reporting. If tips are allowed and your unit is a large food service operation (as defined by the IRS), the unit reports the employee’s tip income. The unit must provide information to University Payroll and Benefits (UPB) regarding the number of employees and gross receipts. UPB uses this information to file the mandated annual report on tip income with the IRS.

An employee must report tips on their timesheet for any month when:

  • They do NOT work in a large food service as defined by the IRS
  • Their tips are $30 or more for that month

If the food service operation where you work is not a large food service as defined by the IRS and your tips add up to $20 a month, you must report all your tips on your timesheet. If you work in a large food service operation, the unit reports your tax income for you.

Employment-related agreements are executed under limited circumstances according to various campus policies. These agreements provide for payment where:

  • The payment is not related to services provided, or
  • Services are provided for a year or longer.

Only fully-executed agreements, bearing the appropriate approvals, are processed by University Payroll and Benefits (UPB). All such payments are subject to federal, state, and Medicare (where applicable), but not SURS withholding.

Award payments include cash, gift certificate, and cash equivalents. The awards must be pre-approved and presented in a meaningful ceremony. When done through ANA, awards are always employment related, taxable as wages, and deposited directly into the awardee's bank account after the ceremony date.

One-time payments are typically used for temporary employees who are not on the University payroll and who have rendered service only once during the calendar year for not more than 30 days.

Every employee hired after November 6, 1986 must complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to verify employment eligibility and identity according to immigration law.

Overpayments occur because of administrative errors, job records not ended on time, work schedule/default hours not ended correctly, or data entry/time reporting errors. When the employee returns the overpaid amount, it is credited to the C-FOAPAL charged.

 

Last Updated: March 21, 2012 | Approved: Senior Associate Vice President for Business and Finance - March 2010