Payroll/benefits Assistant

GENERAL STATEMENT
The Payroll/Benefits Assistant is responsible for the preparation, distribution, and accuracy of an in-house computerized payroll system in accordance with the terms and conditions outlined in the collective agreements, College policy, and in conjunction with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Employment Standards, and Service Canada, and other applicable legislation, governing agencies and acts. Under supervision of the Coordinator Payroll/Benefits, the Payroll/Benefits Assistant communicates closely with Human Resources and Finance to ensure employee information impacting payroll and employment status is processed effectively.
Other major responsibilities include generating reports from the college’s Human Resources Information System (HRIS), action appropriate departmental verifications, payroll adjustments, and data entry to update the system, maintaining an accurate personnel benefits database, and responding to payroll inquiries including employee assignments and collective agreement queries, employee concerns, and other related matters.

TYPICAL DUTIES
- Accurately prepares and processes, within strict deadlines, all pertinent payroll information for biweekly payrolls which include: salaried management staff, CCFA and BCGEU faculty, CUPE support staff, student employees, and monthly contracted employees (routinely five payrolls per month);
- Verifies employee assignments and timesheet details are complete as required for processing, ensures employee information is accurate, and maintains the integrity of the employee’s computerized payroll records;
- Ensures payroll transactions are accurate and in compliance with and applicable collective agreements and legislation;
- Analyses problems and uses sound judgment when dealing with highly-confidential and/or sensitive issues;
- Acts as the primary contact between employees and benefit carriers including assisting employees with completing enrollment forms in person and by all other means of communication, responding to, reviewing, and researching inquiries regarding benefit coverage; maintains a variety of related records, lists, and reports;
- Follows up on employee benefit arrears and pay discrepancies, requests reimbursements from employees for any outstanding debts, and frequently monitors delinquent accounts. Unusual and/or debts of an extreme nature are referred to the Coordinator Payroll/Benefits;
- Verifies accuracy of payroll output; transmits the payroll electronically to bank, confirms the transmission amounts, follows up and corrects any payroll deposit rejections; troubleshoots and takes appropriate steps, as required, to generate accurate transactions;
- Responsible for printing and distribution of pay statements and manual cheques; calculate off-cycle manual cheques, as required, within proper accounting procedures and integrates information with HRIS;
- Responsible for the accurate and timely processing of salary, benefit, and pension adjustments;
- Performs complex calculations and analysis for salary adjustments, Pension service buy-backs, retroactive payments, and other related pay adjustments;
- Create and maintain positions within Colleague by using the appropriate cost centres provided by budget officer;
- Actions requests from budget officers to perform salary cost centre changes;
- Reconciles payments and deductions, weekly and monthly, to HRIS totals. Prepares reports, remittance vouchers, and electronic transfers for payroll deductions to various government, benefit carrier, union, financial, charitable, and other agencies;
- Audits and reconciles year-end payroll totals to HRIS totals and accounting records, and produces year-end documentation including T4 (and T4 amendments), T4 Magnetic Media Transmittal, and pension disability start & stop forms, enrolment, resignation and termination forms;
- Provides data, as requested, for purposes of collective bargaining;
- Assists in the design and creation of Colleague-generated reports and compiles other payroll reports as required for use in various departments within the College and with outside vendors;
- Responds to enquiries from the college community, federal government, benefit carriers, Pension Corporation, financial institutions, unions, lawyers, ICBC, WSBC, and other external bodies by providing guidance, information, and explanations on payroll-related issues;
- Provides one-on-one demonstrations of payroll-specific tools, including the online Pension Purchase of Service, the Pension Estimator, and the statutory holiday calculator, in order to ensure accuracy of information, compliance with applicable collective agreements and legislation;
- Maintains up-to-date knowledge of applicable legislation, Pension Corporation and/or Canadian Payroll Association information, and updates that directly affect payroll matters;
- Contributes to the ongoing development of the department by supporting and sharing knowledge with other team members;
- In collaboration with