Payroll Specialist

Description We are looking for a Payroll Specialist to join a transport organization in Cincinnati, Ohio in a contract-to-permanent capacity. This role supports accurate and timely payroll operations for a large employee population while helping resolve pay-related questions with care and consistency. The ideal candidate brings strong payroll processing experience, comfort working with union-related pay rules, and the ability to investigate discrepancies across timekeeping, deductions, and tax records.

Responsibilities:

- Examine timekeeping and attendance records, identify discrepancies, and escalate unresolved concerns to leadership when needed.

- Investigate payroll questions related to employee pay, time entries, system data, and exception items to support accurate compensation.

- Maintain payroll records by entering and updating tax with holdings, direct deposit details, wage garnishments, and child support deductions.

- Support hourly employees by explaining paycheck components, pay calculations, progression steps, and other compensation-related topics.

- Prepare, issue, and monitor manual payroll payments, and provide reporting to management on all off-cycle check activity.

- Reconcile under-collected employee deductions through arrears processing and verify that contractual vacation-related payments are issued correctly.

- Contribute to year-end payroll reporting accuracy, including W-2-related data and required retirement or benefits reporting.

- Administer sick pay activity by reviewing claims, calculating amounts due, maintaining eligibility records, and preparing bi-weekly accrual files for upload.

- Provide cross-functional coverage for other payroll team members and assist with initiatives that improve departmental service, compliance, and performance goals.

- Deliver responsive customer service while fostering a respectful, inclusive, and supportive workplace experience for employees and stakeholders. Requirements - 3+ years of payroll experience, including full-cycle payroll processing.

- Experience supporting multi-state payroll operations for large employee populations, ideally 500+ employees.

- Working knowledge of union payroll practices, labor agreement pay provisions, and related reporting requirements.

- Proficiency with payroll systems such as Paycor and strong ability to research and resolve payroll discrepancies.

- Familiarity with payroll taxes, direct deposits, garnishments, child support orders, and deduction administration.

- Ability to prepare accurate reports, manage confidential data, and maintain a high level of attention to detail.

- Strong communication skills with the ability to explain payroll matters clearly to employees and internal stakeholders.

Robert Half is the world's first and largest specialized talent solutions firm that connects highly qualified job seekers to opportunities at great companies. We offer contract, temporary and permanent placement solutions for finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, and administrative and customer support roles.

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All applicants applying for U.S. job openings must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Benefits are available to contract/temporary professionals, including medical, vision, dental, and life and disability insurance. Hired contract/temporary professionals are also eligible to enroll in our company 401(k) plan. Visit  for more information.

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