Payroll Procedures

Monthly Earnings Report Errors

Emergency Checks and Emergency Cash Loans

Delinquent Paperwork

After All the Work-Study Award is Earned

Regulations require that compensation be made directly to students according to their wishes (paper check, direct deposit, etc.). The Paycheck Profile/PO-8 (see the After Hiring a Work-Study Student section of Hiring and Managing Your Work-Study Student) fulfills this requirement. Regulations also require that an accurate record be kept of hours worked by FWS students. The Monthly Earnings Report (MER) meets that requirement and supports all payroll disbursements. By signing the MER, the student's supervisor is verifying that the student has worked the number of hours reported, and performed the assigned job duties in a satisfactory manner. Monthly Earnings Reports require the signature of the supervisor, certifying that the hours reported are correct. FWS Regulation 34 CFR 675.19 states, "the FWS student’s timesheet must include: certification by the student’s supervisor...that the student has worked and earned the amount being paid; and a time record showing the...total hours worked per day".

Completing a Monthly Earnings Report is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Keep track of the hours your students are working. You are responsible for documenting the time students start and stop their daily work routine. Note that students cannot work during the time when they are scheduled to be in class and that FWS Regulation 34 CFR 675.24 states, "FWS students must be paid on an hourly wage basis for actual time on the job".
2. Make sure the hours reported on the MER are rounded to the nearest quarter (.25) hour. For example, 10 minutes = .25 hours, 20 minutes = .25 hours, 25 minutes = .50 hours, 35 minutes = .50 hours and 45 minutes = .75 hours.
3. Supervisors should verify that the MER is correct before signing it and payroll persons should verify the MER again before paying the student. This way errors are caught early and corrected before becoming major problems.

Upon receipt of the completed Monthly Earnings Reports, the department's payroll person pays the FWS students via *DEFINE. The hourly payroll must be entered and approved on *DEFINE (OV1) by 3:00 p.m. on the due date set by Payroll Services or the paycheck will be delayed until the next payroll. These due dates may be viewed on OVP in *DEFINE and on the Payroll Services web site. Immediately after each payroll (the 1st or 15th of each month), the original MER with original signatures must go to the Work-Study Office; a photocopy of the MER should be retained for the department’s records. The Work-Study Office must audit payroll payments and keep the original MERs on file. Monthly Earnings Reports with original signatures will be considered late if they are received in the Work-Study Office more than 2 weeks after payroll.

Please also note the following:

1. An MER submitted without the supervisor's signature will not be honored. It will be returned instead to the department.
2. Photocopies of completed Monthly Earnings Reports cannot be accepted due to the risk of duplicate payment and government audit requirements.
3. Please do not complete the top portion of the MER in advance, as incorrect UT EIDs and account numbers cause delays in processing.
4. No departmental time sheets will be accepted in lieu of the MER.

If a student is hired during the latter part of the month, an MER with original signatures must be submitted for that month even if the student works only a few hours. Please do not send zero MERs, however.

Completed Monthly Earnings Reports may either be mailed or hand-delivered to the Work-Study Office. If mailing, please send the MERs to the Work-Study Office, Campus Mail Code E3700. If delivering by hand, please place the MER with original signatures in an envelope, seal it, and then give it to the student to deliver to the Work-Study In-Box, General Information Counter, Office of Student Financial Services, 3rd floor, SSB. The Work-Study Office has had cases where fraudulent MERs were presented.

«TIP» Have FWS students sign-in and sign-out each block of time worked. This log will make the Monthly Earnings Reports easier to complete and verify.

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Located in Forms and Sample Forms are examples of Monthly Earnings Reports. These sample documents are provided to assist employers in completing the forms correctly. Please review these sample documents carefully. Errors on these forms can be very time-consuming and may require corrections on the student's MER for the following pay period.

«TIP» Audit the Monthly Earnings Reports before signing. This will eliminate errors before the student is paid.

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Under extreme circumstances, if a payroll deadline is missed, an emergency check can be issued for the missed payroll. The payroll person may contact Payroll Services about how to process an emergency check. In rare cases, the department's account may be charged 100% of the student's wages. If this occurs, the Work-Study Office will not reimburse the department.

Students who do not receive their paychecks due to missed payroll deadlines may obtain an emergency cash loan. A $300 emergency cash loan may be obtained online. If students need more than $300, they may inquire in person at the Office of Student Financial Services, 3rd floor, SSB.

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In order to comply with regulations governing the Federal Work-Study Program, the Work-Study Office has found it necessary to implement the following procedures for handling delinquent paperwork:

• 1st Delinquent Notice will be sent when Monthly Earnings Reports, or other required paperwork are 2 weeks overdue.
• 2nd Delinquent Notice will be sent when employers fail to respond by the due date on the 1st Delinquent Notice.
• 3rd Delinquent Notice will be sent when the employer has failed to respond to the 2nd Delinquent Notice. This notice will inform the employer that participation in the Federal Work-Study Program has been terminated.

Employers who are consistently late in providing required paperwork or Monthly Earnings Reports may be terminated from participation in the Federal Work-Study program at the discretion of the Work-Study Office, even if they have never received a 2nd or 3rd delinquent notice. Once terminated, the employer must make a formal appeal to the Work-Study Office for reinstatement into the Federal Work-Study Program.

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If a student earns the total amount of the FWS award prior to the end of the award period, the department may wish to continue its work relationship with the student. This is considered additional employment, not another Work-Study position, and the department must pay 100% of the student's wages out of its own funds.

Income earned by a student in a non-Work-Study position is treated as base-year income and may affect the student's financial aid support in the next application year.

The department must do an ACH on *DEFINE to change the ending date of the student's FWS appointment to the last day worked in a FWS capacity. Next, the department must do an ANH to create the new non-Work-Study appointment.

«TIP» Before accepting additional employment, the student may want to discuss the implications of such employment with their financial aid counselor.

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