Overpayment: Responsibilites

Departments are required to maintain an effective system of internal controls to prevent overpayments. All employees and departmental personnel who affect the pay process, inc

Departments

Departments are responsible for monitoring payroll records and managing the financial resources for their respective areas. To that end, when an overpayment occurs, departmental contacts are expected to assist Payroll in efforts to recover funds in a timely manner and communicate directly with their employees. Additional payments should not be processed to employees who have been overpaid without first consulting with Payroll.

Ensure that employees have enough leave accruals available prior to approving requests for absence.
Become knowledgeable about how to access available accrual balances.
Review employee time records in a timely manner to ensure that leave time taken is accurate.
Notify Payroll as soon as possible if an employee will be exhausting leave accruals so that a leave of absence can be processed immediately in the Payroll system.
If an employee terminates unexpectedly – the department should process the termination as soon as the supervisor is notified.

Employees

Employees are expected to review their payroll payments each pay period for accuracy, promptly report any discrepancies to their department, and repay the debt as required by state law. Maintain adequate amounts of accruals and ensure that there are enough leave accruals available prior to making requests for absence. Submit accurate and timely time records.

Payroll

Payroll is responsible for reviewing each overpayment situation and ascertaining the best course of action for rectifying the error. Payroll manages the recovery process including canceling checks, reversing direct deposits, determining repayment options, calculating net overpayment amounts, depositing reimbursed funds, crediting the departmental account, correcting employee payroll records, and amending employee W-2 forms when applicable. Determine if communication systems and/or processes need improvement; consider a lean review of internal communication processes to minimize the impact to salary overpayments.