Payroll Specialist II

Payroll Specialist

Tacoma Public Schools

Expected Start Date : November 2025

FTE : 1.0

Hours per day : 8

Salary Level : PT7 $43.23- $60.533 DOE

Salary placement is based on verifiable LIKE occupational experience.

Examples Of Duties

This position performs a variety of complex data collection, accounting, and analytical activities in a timely and accurate manner to prepare the bi-monthly payroll for multiple assigned employee groups; communicates with employees to answer payroll related questions and assists employees in completing required paperwork; communicates with District staff, banks, and government offices to facilitate payroll processing and resolve problems; oversees payroll responsibilities for assigned certificated or classified groups.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

1. Performs a variety of accounting functions for accurate entry of positive and negative pay data for the assigned employee groups; calculates and verifies the impact of salary changes for multiple personnel actions of the assigned employee groups; calculates and executes positive and negative pay entries for accurate payroll processing; implements a variety of audits for assigned employee groups to ensure compliance with bargaining groups, District policies, and federal, and state regulations.

2. Determines employees' eligibility for a variety of leave plans; calculates leave accruals; adjusts employees' leave balances; monitors and maintains leave plan records; administrates all computations, adjustments, and tracking of shared leave; manually computes value of donated leave; adjusts affected employees leave balances; calculates and processes leave payouts upon employee termination in compliance with District policy for applicable payments.

3. Analyzes eligibility of mandatory and voluntary benefits; maintains electronic database of benefits deductions; prepares and distributes enrollment materials to eligible employees; reconciles semi-monthly and monthly electronic billings for benefit accounts; uploads and transmits payroll system interface files to various external agencies websites and / or portals for submittal; distributes payments for assigned accounts; approves, calculates, and authorizes, under direction of administrator, -voluntary and mandatory claims for payment; coordinates timeline and deadlines for claims with Finance Department, as needed; updates, reconciles and maintains master spreadsheets and reports.

4. Manages the overall certificated or overall classified payroll process, as assigned; notifies assigned employee of salary adjustments and discrepancies; provides detailed payroll information and explains, as requested; sends annual notification to employees with active political affairs payroll deductions to fulfill Revised Code of Washington (RCW) and Washington Administrative Code (WAC) requirements, under direction of the Lead Payroll Specialist.

5. Verifies eligibility of retirement enrollment with the Department of Retirement Systems; sends retirement enrollment and deadline information to employees; activates employee and employer contributions based on mandated procedures and / or employees' elections; calculates and applies adjustments as needed.

6. Collects and processes electronic payroll data from multiple departments; uploads reports to payroll system and analyzes accuracy of submitted data; maintains balances and control totals of payroll batches; creates and distributes annual pay period deadline schedules.

7. Reviews, creates, revises, stops, and answers court-ordered garnishments, IRS levies, support enforcement, and wage assignments; sends payments to agencies and vendors; notifies the affected employee; collaborates with accounts payable to establish new vendor accounts for garnishments; develops reports as needed to provide an accurate accounting to employee's and external agencies.

8. Inputs time and attendance system parameters, creating jobs to electronically transfer personnel and time data between the payroll system and time and attendance system; coordinates the collection of time data with timekeeper and authorizers; reviews, researches, and corrects error messages on data time reports.

9. Reviews combined weekly time records using business intelligence software for determining overtime eligibility based on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) laws and collective bargaining agreements; manually calculates pay rates based on a defined base rate or weighted average rate; modifies system time records to reflect accurate overtime hours and rates; determines eligibility of holiday pay for assigned employee groups in accordance with bargaining agreements; edits time records as needed.

10. Interacts effectively with internal and external customers; responds to inquiries and assists with system processes and procedures; provides information to employees to understand their pay; analyzes and interprets a wide range of issues to effectively drive problem resolution; tracks, troubleshoots, and resolves system problems and issues following established guidelines and procedures.

11. Analyzes Department of Labor and Industries issued payments received by employees; determines and executes salary changes and / or leave usage by incorporating non-District payments into the District's payroll per elected compensation option during each time-loss period; tracks and adjusts all leave usage and pay for employees absent due to work-related injury.

12. Audits employee records for proper set up and ongoing maintenance; works with various departments to research and resolve discrepancies in employee status, pay rate, assignment, or contract information; coordinates and reviews corrections in employee records; as necessary, applies accounting adjustments to maintain data integrity ensuring comprehensive and accurate data compliance.

13. Designs reports from business intelligence software to validate against payroll outcomes for purposes of verifying accuracy of payroll balances; develops reports and queries using document tables and data from the time and attendance and / or payroll systems.

14. Compiles and analyzes information as participant in defining operational, systematic and functional changes; tests proposed system interfaces, enhancements, and upgrades; implements quality improvement initiatives, as directed.

15. Creates system workflow documentation; creates and updates desk manuals or workflow scripts, instruction, and standard operating procedures; creates informational training materials and presentation for new hires and employees, as needed; trains users in the operational use of time and attendance and payroll systems; produces and maintains, as webmaster, multiple payroll webpages; regulates content and documents updates to be published for view on the intranet and internet; converts submitted documents to alternate formats, under direction of the Lead Payroll Specialist.

OTHER JOB DUTIES

1. Maintains knowledge and skills of payroll and other applicable processes, as required for success in the position by participating in professional development activities, as needed or as assigned.

2. Provides back-up assistance to the other Payroll Specialists during absences and as needed; performs related duties as assigned, on a temporary basis.

3. Regular, reliable, predictable, attendance or physical presence is an essential job requirement and critical to the performance of the work.

CONDITIONS

Confined to work station for prolonged periods; experiences prolonged visual concentration and exposure to video display; required to occasionally work overtime to meet multiple payroll deadlines; required to work with, and if appropriate, defuse difficult and sensitive situations and / or people; may be required to lift and carry up to 20 pounds, bend, squat, stoop, kneel, crouch, walk, twist, climb, and / or be mobile.

Minimum Qualifications

Education and Experience

Bachelor's degree in accounting or closely related field and two years of payroll experience using a computerized payroll system, required; or an Associate's degree in accounting or bookkeeping and four years of payroll experience using a computerized payroll system; one year of school district accounting experience is preferred; or any combination of experience and training which provides the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and ability required to perform the work.

Licenses / Special Requirements

Certified Payroll Professional (CPP) is desired.

Fingerprints and successful WSP and FBI background clearance / sexual misconduct clearance.

Allowable Substitution

Additional payroll experience may substitute on a year-for-year basis for the educational requirement.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Knowledge of payroll practices and procedures.

Knowledge of accounting principles and procedures as they relate to payroll transactions.

Knowledge of time and attendance, payroll and accounting related software systems.

Knowledge of payroll, state and federal laws, rules, and regulations.

Knowledge of District collective bargaining agreements.

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing exceptional customer service.

Skill in ten-key proficiency, typing, query and data entry software.

Skill in interpersonal communication, both verbally and written.

Skill in delivering effective and exceptional customer service.

Skill in excellent organization, multi-tasking and prioritizing.

Skill in operating a variety of office machines.

Skill in identifying problems, analyzing, recommending solutions, and decision making.

Skill in being detail oriented.

Skill in obtaining, clarifying, and exchanging information.

Ability to operate a personal computer with related spreadsheet and word processing software and database applications.

Ability to accurately perform arithmetical calculations, computations, and tabulations rapidly