Benefits and Payroll Specialist

About the role

Performs a variety of administrative and complex clerical duties to assist in the day-to-day maintenance of city-wide benefits, payroll, and human resources programs and processes. Assists in monitoring city-wide compliance with established policies and procedures related to benefits and payroll. Provides backup to HR/Finance department when necessary.

Responsibilities

• Serves as backup to HR responding to employee benefits questions via phone and email.
• Processes changes to employee benefits and coordinates the annual benefits open enrollment process.
• Assists in tracking employee leave according to policies and procedures.
• Distributes, collects, and processes insurance, retirement, and other benefits paperwork and forwards information to Third Party Administrator (TPA).
• Balances insurance and other billings as assigned.
• Prepares invoices of insurance costs for retirees, persons on COBRA status, and persons on unpaid leave.
• Prepares, processes, and distributes COBRA notifications, special forms, and/or correspondence to persons leaving employment, dependents, persons filing unemployment insurance claims, persons retiring, or persons placed on unpaid status regarding eligibility for continued coverage and periodic premium changes.
• Advises retiring employees regarding benefit coverage options under Utah Retirement Systems (URS) including MEDICARE.
• Processes short and long-term disability information for all new claims and facilitates employment information relating to unemployment insurance claims.
• Maintains and updates appropriate records and updates benefits costs as premiums change.
• Establishes, updates, and retrieves electronic employee benefit files for all eligible employees.
• Serves as an intermediary between employees, insurance carriers, TPA, and others to resolve problems.
• Performs record keeping and payroll processing activities including computing wage and overtime payments, calculating and recording payroll deductions, and processing terminations.
• Ensures accurate preparation and balancing of city-wide biweekly payroll; monitors inputting and recording of employee work hours.
• Enters changes and answers questions relating to employee earnings and withholdings including state taxes, federal taxes, social security, retirement, and insurance.
• Maintains knowledge of payroll processing system and changes in wage and tax laws to correspond with federal, state, and local tax agencies.
• Creates direct deposit file and initiates transfer of funds; prints and distributes direct deposit statements and checks as needed.
• Maintains year-to-date records of wages, deductions, and taxes.
• Facilitates payroll-related accruals and journal entries.
• Oversees submission and storage of time sheets.
• Processes and follows up on wage garnishments and levies by federal, state, and county court orders.
• Makes federal withholding tax deposits and reconciles and generates checks for payroll deductions/benefits with various private, state, and federal agencies.
• Maintains proper employee documentation related to W-4s and issues annual W-2s.
• Processes and monitors unemployment insurance claim records.
• Assists HR Manager with comprehensive classification and compensation studies involving the analysis of positions including periodic audits.
• Updates the HRIS including inputting job codes, titles, pay ranges, FLSA statuses, EEO categories, worker’s compensation codes, and other data.
• Leads all EDI Integration projects related to HRIS, payroll, and third-party benefit vendors.
• Acts as primary point of contact for technical interface failures, collaborating with IT and external vendors to correct mapping or transmission errors.
• Conducts routine audits of EDI transmission logs and HRIS data to identify sync failures, validation errors, or data discrepancies, resolving issues promptly.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree in business, accounting, finance, or related field or equivalent experience and education.
• Minimum three (3) years of hands-on experience in payroll processing or related financial role.
• OR experience using payroll and/or Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Human Resources Management Systems (HRMS), or Human Capital Management (HCM) software systems such as Springbrook, iSolved, etc.
• Thorough knowledge of all payroll tax regulations.
• CPP (Certified Payroll Professional) a plus.

Skills

• Proficient with Microsoft Office, including Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and Word.
• Proficient with HRIS/payroll/benefits systems, email, and other required software applications.
• Strong mathematical and numerical aptitude.
• Accurate and thorough with meticulous attention to detail.
• Sound knowledge of HR, benefits, and payroll-related policies and procedures.
• Current knowledge and education on tax laws related to payroll pay rates and benefits administration.
• Excellent oral, interpersonal, and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent keyboarding/data entry skills.
• Ability to maintain the highest level of confidentiality.
• Ability to work well alone and within a team environment.
• Ability to effectively deal with multiple and changing priorities and demonstrate initiative.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and ensure accuracy with highly confidential information.
• Ability to work effectively with coworkers and others by sharing ideas constructively and positively.
• Ability to identify ways to continually improve employee satisfaction and increase compliance with internal or external requirements.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with City Council, City Officials, Department heads, and all employees.
• Ability to identify and resolve problems in a timely manner.
• Ability to interpret and carry out complex instructions and assignments.
• Ability to impart information to others when necessary.
• Ability to write clearly and concisely, edit work for spelling and grammar, and read and interpret difficult and complex written information.
• Ability to respond to inquiries from employees to fulfill requests for information.
• Familiarity with URS Pension plans.