Payroll Analyst

Department: Office of Human Resources
Salary/Grade: EXS/6

Job Summary

The Payroll Specialist is responsible for supporting the greater function of the Payroll team by managing the garnishment and overpayment processes. The Specialist participates in the weekly payroll cycle by assisting with review and resolution of errors related to timekeeping and pay processing. This position collaborates directly with the Payroll Tax team by providing support for certain functions that bridge both teams, particularly during the heavy tax seasons. The Payroll Specialist is the point person for escalated employee issues or complaints, helping to ensure a timely response by the appropriate team member.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Garnishment Administration: Manage wage garnishments for deduction orders, tax levies, and child support orders in compliance with federal and state regulations. Complete and file relevant paperwork and enter garnishments in the payroll system for processing. Manage communication with employees, issue garnishment payments to vendors each pay cycle, and prepare monthly reconciliation reports.
• Overpayment Processing: Review requests for payroll overpayments, create overpayment records, and issue letters to employees. Track the status of overpayments, accurately record returned funds, and process internal journals to credit returned funds back to the university
• Customer Service: Provide Tier 2 support for issues that are beyond the scope of support provided by the askHR Service Center (Tier 1). Serve as the initial point of escalation for the payroll team by monitoring the status of inquiries, directing issues to the correct team member, ensuring a timely response is sent, and reporting widespread problems to management
• Timekeeping & Payroll Processing: Perform review of timekeeping error reports and collaborate with the payroll, operations, and analytics teams to address issues as needed. Work in partnership with the rest of the payroll team to investigate and resolve timekeeping and payroll issues that occur during the regular payroll processing cycle.
• Payroll Tax Support: Provide support for functions that bridge payroll and tax team processes, including maintaining appropriate data setup for out-of-state and foreign national employees, processing deduction and tax refunds, and creating corrected W-2 forms to balance refunds or overpayments impacting a prior tax year.
• Performs other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

• High School diploma and some secondary education in accounting, business or related fields
• Three or more years of professional experience in a similar role with increasing levels of responsibility, preferably in a higher education environment
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience processing payrolls
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong organization and time management skills, and the ability to manage work independently

Target hiring range for this position will be between $61,000 - $64,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Northwestern strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters for people who can obtain them as a critical tool for minimizing severe illness. More information can be found on the COVID-19 and Campus Updates webpage.

The Northwestern campus sits on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations. We acknowledge and honor the original people of the land upon which Northwestern University stands, and the Native people who remain on this land today.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Click for information on EEO is the Law.