19.10 Payroll

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Policy Information

Policy Number: 19.10 Effective Date: 07/01/2012
Responsible Unit: Payroll Department Last Revised Date: 10/04/2017
Email: FNSV-Payroll-Info@arizona.edu Phone: 520-621-9097

Purpose and Summary

The University of Arizona has established payroll systems and processes in order to comply with all applicable regulations and with its own fiduciary responsibilities and objectives.

Salaries, wages, payroll taxes and associated benefits constitute a significant portion of the University’s overall expenditures and are subject to regulations imposed by the federal government, various state governments, and other agencies. This policy provides guidance to employees and departments regarding payroll in order to maintain compliance with all applicable laws and regulations related to payroll.

Source

In accordance with University-wide policies and applicable governmental statutes and regulations, including, but not limited to:

Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) Policy
ADOA - General Accounting Office (Choose Topic 55 Payroll and Personnel)
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Arizona State Laws
University of Arizona Policy

Scope

This policy applies to all University locations and units, including all University extensions, satellite locations, and off-site campus units, both domestic and international.  

Definitions

  1. Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR): The governing body of Arizona's public university system, providing policy guidance to Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona and their branch campuses.
  2. Department of Labor (DOL): The department of the US Federal government that promotes and improves the welfare, opportunities, and working conditions of wage earners.
  3. Human Resources (HR): The division of an organization that is focused on activities relating to employees. These activities normally include recruiting and hiring of new employees, orientation and training of current employees, employee benefits, and retention.
  4. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): The Fair Labor Standards Act is a federal act that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards for full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.
  5. Non Resident Aliens (NRA): A non-resident alien is a person who is not a citizen of the United States and has not been issued a “Green Card” or passed the Substantial Presence Test (SPT).
  6. Resident Alien (RA): A resident alien is a person in the United States who is not a U.S. citizen, but passes the “Green Card” test or the “Substantial Presence” test.
  7. Stale Dated: Uncashed checks are valid for 180 days after they were issued. After 180 days most banks consider checks to be stale dated (similar to expiration dates on groceries) and will not cash them. Another term for stale dated items is “escheatment”.

Policy

  1. All University employees and departments must maintain compliance with all Federal and State tax laws, ABOR regulations, and University policies to ensure accurate and prompt payments to employees.
  2. Departments must maintain internal controls, to include, but not be limited to, the following:
    1. Maintain strong internal controls related to payroll (i.e. segregation of duties: time coordinator, time approver and paycheck distributor)
    2. Ensure time is entered using the correct Time Reporting codes
    3. Ensure all time is approved by designated deadlines (see "published deadlines" below)
    4. Review and reconcile accounts in a timely manner to ensure accuracy
    5. Submit appropriate changes when necessary in UA Manager Self Service in a timely manner and in accordance with published deadlines to ensure correct payment and accounting has been applied. (e.g. salary changes, positions changes, terminations, position distribution changes)

Related Information

Payroll Department

Division of Human Resources

Contact List