Payroll
Submission and Payment of Hours Worked
- The employing department must set-up a new FWS employee on a timely basis, to allow for the on time payment of the first paycheck
- The employing department must ensure that a FWS employee’s hours are submitted for timely payroll processing
- The student and supervisor must both approve and sign-off on the time sheet each pay period to certify that hours worked are accurately reported
- Students must be paid every pay period for all hours worked during that pay period
- Students must be paid on time, no later than 10 days after the pay period closes. For more information, please refer to Utah Code, Title 34, Chapter 28
- Any hours NOT submitted and paid on time may be considered ineligible wages and may result in the loss of the FWS award
Paycheck Negotiation
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By federal regulation, students must receive the federal student aid funds that are intended for their support. If a student’s FWS paycheck is not negotiated within 240 days, after the date the original paycheck is issued, the federal funds must be returned to the Department of Education. In this case the employer will be charged for the federal portion that must be returned.
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When a FWS paycheck becomes stale-dated (180 days old) the federal portion will be charged to the employer. The employer may request reimbursement of the federal portion if it can document that a re-issued paycheck was negotiated within 240 days of the date of the original paycheck. This documentation must be received by the FWS Coordinator no later than the 15th day of the month that follows the date the check was negotiated.
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It is highly recommended that employers encourage FWS employees to sign up for direct deposit of their FWS paychecks.
Monitoring and Review
The Payroll Earnings, Benefits, & Taxes Report should be reviewed each pay period to verify that wages have been correctly charged to the work-study accounts. Incorrectly charged FWS wages will be your earliest indication that a problem exists.
- Verify wages are charged to the payroll distribution organization ID and account number that are authorized on the JRN
- Only wages charged to accounts 54000-54970 are FWS wages (except, see below for charges to account 54800)
- Departments must contact the FWS Coordinator, within the pay period following an error, to either request resolution of the error or to notify the FWS Coordinator that an error will be resolved.
Unresolved issues may result in the loss of the FWS award and/or expiration of the JRN.
Items Charged to Account 54800
Wages that are processed on a work-study account number, but determined to be ineligible under the FWS program, will be charged to account 54800. Charges include but are not limited to:
- Disallowed Wages
- Unallowable Pay Types
- Wages in excess of maximum hours allowed
- Wages paid for an ineligible position
Charges to 54800 do not calculate against the award amount.
Correcting Errors/Reallocations
Departments may not change any charge to or from a FWS account number. FWS uses federal funds and we must be able to account for both the federal and departmental portions of FWS wages. Any payroll reallocation or journal entry including a FWS account number must be made by the FWS Team in the Financial Aid Office. Adjustments must be requested and approved by the FWS Team within the pay period following the error. We cannot guarantee that every request will be approved.