Temporary Payroll Specialist (20 hours/week)

WPI•Worcester, MA

4d•Remote

About The Position

The Temporary Payroll Specialist reports to the Associate Director and works approximately 20 hours per week supporting daily payroll operations. The role provides customer service and processes multiple biweekly payrolls end to end in Workday HCM, ensuring accurate and timely payment to employees. Duties include processing regular payroll and special payments such as net pay reissues and other out-of-sequence payrolls, and reviewing employee transactions and time reports for compliance with applicable regulations, university policies, the employee handbook, and collective bargaining agreements. This is a temporary position of approximately six months, with a possible extension, intended to provide additional support to the payroll team. The stated hourly rate is $30–$35. The position is expected to work approximately 20 hours per week remotely, including coverage on biweekly payroll deadline days.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
At least 2 years of payroll experience, including Workday HCM payroll.
Knowledge of federal and state payroll laws and regulations.
Proficiency in Excel.
Excellent customer service and communication skills, with an aptitude for problem-solving.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and meet payroll deadlines.
Availability to work approximately 20 hours per week remotely, including coverage on biweekly payroll deadline days.

Nice To Haves

Experience with ADP payroll tax processing and reconciliation.
Experience in a unionized environment and applying collective bargaining agreement pay rules.
Payroll experience in higher education.

Responsibilities

Assist with biweekly payroll processing for multiple pay groups, including auditing, analyzing, verifying, and entering payroll items.
Ensure accuracy of gross-to-net calculations, benefit deductions, retirement contributions, tax withholding, union dues, and garnishments.
Review reported time; follow up with managers and employees; evaluate prior-period adjustments and unprocessed time; and clean up unsubmitted time entries.
Run payroll audit reports, follow up as needed, and make adjustments and fixes to support accurate and timely payment.
Communicate about missing direct deposit information, printed checks or pay cards, net pay reissues, direct deposit rejects, and stale-dated checks.
Respond by email, phone, and videoconference to employee, department, manager, and agency questions about pay, deductions, taxes, and related matters.
Manage the payroll queue in the Halo ticketing system.
Send reminders about time entry and approval deadlines, year-end processing, and related matters.
Create and update procedure and job-aid documentation for department and community use.
Maintain accurate information on the website and in Workday, including setting up future payroll processing and vacation and holiday calendars.
Support compliance with federal, state, and local payroll laws and regulations, including wage and hour, tax, and reporting requirements.
Develop understanding of collective bargaining agreements, including time entry codes, pay rules, earning calculations, and reporting.
Support calendar year-end processes, including W-2 preparation, reconciliation, and distribution.
Run reports to assist with periodic, quarterly, and annual tax filings; respond to audit requests and compliance reporting; and assist with fiscal year-end entries.
Track garnishments and advance repayments, and create accounts payable requisitions.
Assist with registering and maintaining payroll tax accounts, reconciling ADP tax transactions, filing and paying tax obligations outside ADP processing, and reconciling payroll tax records with ADP, tax agency, and accounting records.
Partner with internal and external teams on Workday testing related to system projects, optimization, enhancements, fixes, and new releases.
Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned or directed by the supervisor.