Payroll Update - December 8, 2022

From: finance-information@gaston.k12.nc.us

Subject: Information for Employees, December 8, 2022

Date: Dec 8 , 2022, 4:29 PM

Information for Employees, December 8, 2022

Information for Employees, December 8, 2022

Good afternoon, employees.  We hope you are doing well.  Below, we are providing you with an update from the finance, payroll, and human resources departments.

Bi-weekly and monthly payrolls

During the month of December, we have two upcoming bi-weekly pay dates on Friday, December 16 and Friday, December 30.  The monthly pay date will be on Wednesday, December 21.

Board of Education payroll update

On Monday, the Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting for December, and we presented an update about the payroll system.  A number of the payroll-related concerns shared with the Board are outlined in the information below.  The PowerPoint presentation used for the Board meeting can be accessed by clicking this link. 

Form W-2 distribution

ADP, a company that manages direct deposits, pay information, and tax information for our employees, will prepare and distribute all employee W-2s for 2022.  ADP will send the pay file to the IRS and will mail a W-2 form to employees by January 31, 2023.  Your W-2 form will be mailed to the employee address on file in Oracle.  Employee W-2 forms also will be available online.

Global issues

Our payroll personnel continue to review, research, and resolve issues that were brought to our attention as a result of employees meeting with a member of the customer service team.  We continue to work on several global issues (a global issue is one that affects a group of employees), and we continue to work on individual employee issues that may not be included in a global issue.  Some of the current global issues are outlined in the bulleted list below.

• Retirement accounts

We continue to work to get the N.C. Retirement System to accept our June ORBIT file.  The July and August files are ready to submit to ORBIT once the June file has been accepted.  

We have confirmed with the N.C. Retirement System that any interest to be credited to employee retirement accounts at the end of 2022 will be based on the “amount for the preceding year” (2021) in accordance with state law G.S. 135-7(b).  This is consistent with the process used in prior years.  However, we will continue to work to get our ORBIT files updated in the state retirement as soon as possible.

We will need to have all employee tax-deferred funds deposited with the financial intermediaries (such as Horace Mann or Admin Partners) by the end of this month.  The 403(b) and 457 accounts are updated through June and the Empower (formerly Prudential) files are updated through November.  These funds will begin to be deposited next week for the employees in which this applies. 

• Excess deductions

One of our global issues is excess deductions.  We’ve had an internal team assisting payroll over the past several months to review and resolve a number of these issues.  Once an employee’s issue is reviewed and a resolution determined, the employee should see an adjustment in the next regular payroll run.  This is an on-going process that can be time-consuming based on the complexity of the issue.

• Health insurance escrow 

The health insurance escrow is used to pay health insurance for employees during the summer “no pay” months.  A number of 10- and 11-month employees did not receive this deduction in September or October.  We corrected this issue by making the deduction slightly higher beginning in November to make up for what was supposed to be deducted in September/October.  This was done to ensure that there are sufficient funds to cover the premiums for summer 2023.

• Overpayments

Some employees were overpaid as a result of the payroll conversion.  We are in the process of contacting the affected employees to develop a plan to recover the funds.

Additional information

We continue to make progress on addressing issues, but it is a time-consuming effort.  We are encouraged by the additional support that has been put into place and are hopeful that we will continue to make progress related to resolving outstanding issues and ensuring that future pay runs have minimal system-related issues.  Fortunately, our most recent payroll runs have experienced only minimal system issues. 

We also are fortunate to welcome Adrean Milbry, an experienced payroll specialist, to our team.  Ms. Milbry worked with us previously so she is familiar with Gaston County Schools and Oracle.  We believe Ms. Milbry brings experience and additional support to our payroll department.

We would like to thank you for all that you are doing to give us a strong finish to the first semester of school.  Please know that we appreciate your efforts to support our students and families.  

Gary Hoskins, Chief Financial Officer