Payroll Lead

Amy's Kitchen•,

3d•$38 - $55•Hybrid

About The Position

The Payroll Lead is responsible for overseeing and executing various payroll activities for processing payroll for approximately 2,000 employees across multiple locations, ensuring compliance with all Federal, State, and Local regulations. This role services as subject matter expert for payroll operations, system functionality, and audit controls, providing guidance to the Senior Payroll Specialist.

Requirements

5-7 years of solid end-to-end payroll processing experience including Time and Attendance systems (preferably UKG Pro Time Management) and Payroll systems (preferably UKG Pro).
Solid understanding of federal, state, and local tax laws, FLSA and Wage and Hour requirements.
Familiar with California payroll regulations such as meal and break rests, overtime, double-time and termination of employment.
Deep understanding of payroll regulations, wage and hour laws, and tax compliance (preferably multi-state).
Minimum two years’ experience with a large Human Resource Management System or payroll system.
Minimum of one year accounting experience.
Proficient in Microsoft Excel.
Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as overtime, double-time, shift differentials, calculate gross and net wages, tax withholdings, imputed income, etc.
Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions.
Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.

Nice To Haves

Associate's degree (A.A.) in accounting or related field equivalent from two-year college or technical school.
Spanish/English bilingual strongly preferred.
Understanding of accounting principles and the ability to reconcile various payroll.
Understanding of the payroll administration of 401(k) and other employee benefit plans; garnishments; and worker’s compensation.
Prior experience in a high volume, fast-paced payroll environment.
Strong attention to detail.
Exceptional work ethic, organization, and time management skills.
Able to multi-task and perform under multiple conflicting priorities with strict deadlines.
Demonstrate a sense of urgency when responding to inquiries.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Ability to exercise good sound judgment and maintain strict confidentiality.

Responsibilities

Functions as the backup to the Payroll Manager when needed, including closing payroll, processing Canadian payroll, and submitting RRSP and DPSP contributions.
Approves and prints all manual checks and funds all pay card requests.
Cancels checks with the banks as required.
Manages direct deposits that are returned.
Sends daily positive pay files to all required banks.
Processes the 401(k) deferrals and loan files from Transamerica.
Sends the 401(k) deferrals, loan payments and employer match file to Transamerica.
Manages benefit arrears.
Sends non-qualified contributions and Long-Term Incentive (LTI) and Annual Incentive Plan (AIP) to Principal Financial.
Responsible for the accurate and timely payroll processing, submission, reporting and auditing for exempt and non-exempt employees while ensuring compliance with all government and regulatory requirements.
Maintains a high standard of quality and accuracy by being proactive in managing the payroll cycle to meet all payroll deadlines.
Provides excellent customer service by answering all payroll related inquiries and works closely and collaboratively with the People Department and other cross-functional departments.
Performs payroll-related functions including processing separation of employment, status changes, tax changes, deductions, and direct deposit changes.
Reviews garnishments and uploads them to wage garnishments services through UKG Pro for processing.
Audits garnishment changes to ensure orders are accurately processed, checks reflect current orders, and orders are loaded to Employee File Management (EFM).
Reviews and verifies employee data entered by UKG Pro workflows or received via employee self-service data entry.
Reviews and verifies payroll data in a proactive timely manner as defined by the payroll guidelines, including all regular pay, overtime, bonus payments, other premium pay, differentials, etc.
Audits and verifies all New Hires and Rehires, including pay rates, earnings, taxes, deductions, and PTO plans.
Proactively works with the People Teams, supervisors, and managers to identify issues and problem solve before they become larger issues.
Acts as first line of communication supporting high priority and escalated customer service matters and issues.
Supports the Payroll Manager with any initiatives, projects, and processes (e.g., direct deposit campaign, electronic paychecks, earned wage access initiative, etc.).
Functions as a business partner and as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and works with assigned locations to create an optimal employee experience.
Trains Managers and Supervisors on Time & Attendance processes including correcting missed punches, adding reason codes, approving timesheets and time off requests, and Payroll Right First Time.
Contacts employees whenever required and responds to routine inquiries concerning payroll deductions and accruals, wage garnishments, child support payments, W-2 questions, etc.
Prepares manual checks and paycard payments and records them on the manual check log daily.
Enters and audits meal waiver premiums for Amy’s Kitchen and the Drive Thru.
Prepares and submits New Hire Reporting to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) for all states.
Completes Social Security verification for all Amy’s Kitchen and Drive Thru employees.
Assists in maintenance of payroll records and files including vacation, sick and other accrued leave.
Collaborates with the payroll team and/or the People Technology Coordinator on payroll issues to ensure resolution.
Audits and calculates merit increases, promotions, and bonus premium over-time (OT), and prepares import files.
Processes retroactive calculations, bonus premiums and retroactive Vacation and Sick plan adjustments for promotions of Non-Exempt to Exempt employees.
Reviews and audits daily hours, meal premiums and missed punches on employee timesheets for accuracy before exporting hours from time management system to UKG Pro Payroll Gateway.
Processes imports into UKG Pro Payroll Gateway and balances for employee hours worked, bonuses, prior pay period time off (manual), retro calculations for merits, overtime premium and retro overtime premium, gift cards, prizes, expenses, tips, etc.
Audits pre-check reports for accuracy related to employee earnings and deductions.
Identifies process improvements and makes recommendations for changes.
Leads and supports process quality and optimization initiatives.
Performs other duties as assigned.