This page provides information and resources for individuals who are responsible for departmental timekeeping and other functions that affect a department's payroll.
Many questions can be answered by referring to the Hourly Payroll Guidelines.
Visit the Business Process Training for upcoming training opportunities.
There are special instances where overtime may be paid out to an employee depending on their FSLA status.
Hourly Employee - may be paid for overtime at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay. If the employee works for more than one department, then the overtime pay will be paid from the account where the 41st hour was accrued.
Non-Exempt Employee - may not be paid for comp time earned at 1.0 times the rate of pay upon termination. If unusual circumstances exist, then a cash payment may be made with approval from the VP and President. Cash payment is required whenever accrual comp time earned at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay exceeds the limit on accumulation or upon termination. Contact Human Resources for assistance as a special calculation may be required.
Exempt Employee - may not be paid for comp time earned unless the employee qualifies for an exemption. A list of exemptions can be found in the UNT policy governing Compensatory Time (see Additional Resources). Non-exempt salaried employees shall be compensated by cash payment, at their regular rate of pay, for hours worked at any location other than their regular place of employment or assigned duty point, in lieu of the accrual of state compensatory time, by the reporting of compensatory time paid at 1.0 through EIS Time and Labor.
A specialized report to show the daily history of comp time earned, taken, paid and lapsed during a period (usually 6 months) is prepared in the Payroll office. EIS only shows the balance on a given day. These reports are very helpful in assisting employees to avoid lapsing (can include future lapsing) and assisting timekeepers in reconciliation when errors are either identified or suspected.
The Deadline Calendar contains information related to the deadlines for payroll forms and time entry in order to ensure payment is made on the next payroll run. Payroll forms must be received in HR by the date and time stated for each payroll. Time entered must be approved before the deadline stated in order to be picked up by payroll. The deadline calendar is compiled in HR with the assistance of payroll and posted to this website.
The Board of Regents approve Holidays for each institution for all eligible employees. These holidays do not need to be entered into EIS by the timekeeper. A staff member must be in active status and not on leave without pay (LWOP) immediately prior to and immediately following a scheduled holiday to receive payment for the holiday. Please report to the Payroll Office when an employee is not due pay for a Holiday.
An employee who wishes to use accrued comp time that is subject to lapsing should submit a written request for permission to use the time to their department head at least 90 days before the time will lapse. The department head will then either approve the request in writing or provide the employee with an alternative date on which the employee may use the time. The department head is encouraged to reasonably accommodate the employee's use of the accrued comp time before it lapses.
Employees that are eligible for vacation leave have a maximum balance that can be carried over from the end of one fiscal year to the next. This is based on the employee's number of state service months and FTE (full time equivalent) status. While they do have a maximum carry over, they do not lose this time. The time rolls over into the employees' sick leave balance.
Compensatory leave is granted as equivalent time off which must be taken within 12 months of the end of the week in which the comp time was earned. Generally, no cash payments may be made for unused comp time earned at 1.0. A non-exempt staff member must use all accrued comp time earned at 1.0 prior to terminating employment.
Compensatory time at 1.5 may be accrued up to a maximum limit of 240 hours for most nonexempt employees and up to 480 hours for employees working in public safety, emergency response or seasonal activities. Cash payment is required whenever accrual exceeds the limit on accumulation. Employees should be scheduled to take time off for accumulated comp time as soon as possible following the end of the week in which the time was earned.
Normally, a staff member must use all accrued compensatory leave earned at 1.5 prior to terminating employment. In unusual circumstances, a staff member may receive a cash payment for such time at termination. Contact the Compensation area of Human Resources at 940/565-4245 for assistance in calculating payment amounts.
Time Administration (Time Admin) automatically runs at 11:15 a.m. on all hourly employees and midnight on all hourly and salary employees. The time admin process will only capture time that has been approved in the EIS system. Time must be approved by applicable deadlines in order for the time admin process to capture the time and process it to payable time. The time will then be processed on the next available payroll if applicable.
All time entered into the EIS system for both salaried and hourly employees needs to be approved by the applicable deadlines. If you are an approver for an hourly employee's time, you must remember that hourly employees will not receive a paycheck unless their time has been approved by the established deadline.
Timekeepers enter time into the Enterprise Information System (EIS) for their department from either the UPO-24 for salaried TRS employees, UPO-15 or VPAA150 for exempt ORP employees or UPO-23 hourly employees. Entry of time utilized for vacation, sick is to track and keep accurate leave balances. Time must be entered no later than 90 after the date of work or time off. Delays may result in incorrect paychecks and incorrect leave balances, and may require a special request submitted to Payroll to make corrections.
Once data has been entered and Time Administration has run, it is important to review for exception messages. These messages may be warnings (those that will stall pay/update if not fixed) or errors (those that will not pay/update if not fixed). Timekeepers are responsible for insuring that messages are reviewed and the data is corrected. Failure to do this could result in the employee not receiving payment or could delay balances from updating properly.
There are several time reporting codes that can be used in time entry. The most common used are SCK for sick leave, VAC for vacation leave. NEVER use a code with an "X" as the first letter. Below are just a few of the most common used codes.
There are several email lists which are used to provide announcements and updates to those with timekeeping or payroll form processing responsibilities. By placing your email address in one or all of these lists you be assured to get the earliest notification of time reporting or payroll news. In addition the email lists, the A-Team meetings meet monthly and are designed as a way to deliver information and announcements to administrative support personnel in the departmental offices.
To receive notifications from Payroll regarding Time and Labor, you must have access as a Timekeeper. Emails will be sent in accordance with EIS access to the Timekeeping modules.
To receive notifications from the Payroll Office regarding payroll notifications, send an email to bsc@untsystem.edu requesting to have your email address included in the payroll user group list.
To receive news and announcements about the A-Team meetings, send an email to Dilana.King@unt.edu requesting to have your email address included in the A Team email list.
Timekeeper reports are very useful to timekeepers. Employees by group report will show time-keepers their employees for either their hourly or salaried employees. This report will show each employees' emplid#'s, record number, job code, hourly rate of pay (not displayed for salaried employees), payment account and the employees payable time (not all fields are on all reports). These reports are submitted and run at the time requested by the timekeeper in the UNTS Time and Labor pages in EIS. They are returned in the form of a spreadsheet.
Human Resources provide timekeepers with training on how to complete certain payroll forms as well as how to enter time into the EIS system.
All overtime worked and compensatory time worked must be approved in advance by the department official who has the designated authority to approve such overtime. The University requires the Staff Application for Approval of Leave/Overtime form to be completed and signed by both the employee and his/her supervisor. An employee who fails to follow departmental directives or policy regarding the approval of overtime and compensatory time worked may be subject to disciplinary action including discharge.
Application for Approval of Leave / Overtime (UPO-15) [pdf]