Payroll Specialist

Essential Functions

• Process payroll, bonus, and commission for hourly and salaried employees accurately and on schedule.
• Manage time and attendance data, review timecards for compliance issues, and resolve discrepancies in coordination with department managers.
• Calculate and process adjustments including retroactive pay, shift differentials, and overtime.
• Ensure correct application of garnishments, child support orders, tax levies, and voluntary deductions.
• Process off-cycle payrolls, termination pay, and manual checks as needed.
• Ensure appropriate documentation such as meal waivers are on file.

Compliance & Reporting

• Ensure payroll practices comply with federal, state, and local wage and hour laws, including FLSA regulations.
• Support internal and external audits by providing payroll data, reports, and documentation.
• Stay current on changes to payroll tax laws, labor regulations, and compliance requirements.
• Process end of year Affordable Care Act (ACA) and W-2 tasks.

HR & Systems Administration

• Maintain and administer employee payroll records in UKG Ready, ensuring data integrity across new hires, terminations, compensation changes, and status updates.
• Partner with the team on benefit deduction changes, employee promotions, COLA, leave of absence pay impacts (including FMLA and state leaves), employee billing, and onboarding/offboarding.
• Generate ad hoc payroll reports for HR and leadership as needed.
• Identify and recommend process improvements to enhance efficiency and accuracy.

Employee Support

• Serve as a primary point of contact for employee payroll questions, resolving issues with professionalism and confidentiality through verbal & email communication including payroll tickets.
• Educate employees on pay stubs, deductions, and direct deposit setup.
• Escalate complex pay disputes or legal matters to the HR Senior Manager promptly.
• Conduct and support training activities related to UKG timecard submission and approval for all levels of the organization, including new hires.

HR & Accounting Cross-Functional Support

• On non-payroll processing days, actively support HR and Accounting departmental functions, special projects, and initiatives as directed by the HR Senior Manager and Accounting Manager.
• Aid in employee file maintenance, I-9 compliance, onboarding documentation, benefits administration support, census reports, and HRIS data audits in UKG Ready.
• Assist Accounting with tasks, expense reporting, invoice processing, or other financial administrative duties as needed.
• Participate in HR and company-wide projects including policy updates, open enrollment preparation, compliance audits, culture, New Hire Orientation presentation back-up and process improvement initiatives.
• Participate as a flexible resource across HR and Accounting, demonstrating a collaborative and service-oriented approach to all assigned tasks.

Requirements

• 3+ years of end-to-end payroll processing experience, preferably in a high-volume or distribution/warehouse environment.
• Strong working knowledge of federal and state payroll tax laws, wage and hour compliance, and garnishment administration.
• Proficiency with UKG Ready (or similar); experience with additional HRIS or payroll platforms a plus.
• Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, data validation).
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive information with confidentiality and sound judgment.
• High attention to detail and accuracy with the ability to meet non-negotiable deadlines.
• FPC (Fundamental Payroll Certification) by the APA required.