Payroll Manager

Payroll Manager

Full Time – In-Person | Oakland, CA

Safe Passages disrupts the cycle of poverty by engaging youth and families to build and drive a continuum of services that supports student success and community development.

Safe Passages is a non‑profit organization committed to disrupting the cycle of poverty by supporting our local community. We serve over 5,000 children and families annually through our strategies that span across the life spectrum of birth through young adulthood, including Early Childhood, School Linked Services, Juvenile Justice, and Career Pathways. Safe Passages’ work is based on the premises that access to educational opportunity, health services, and family support should not be dictated by race or socio‑economic status, and that healthy and supported youth are better prepared to learn and succeed.

The Payroll Manager is a management class and a key leader in the Fiscal Team. Under the direction of the Controller, the Payroll Manager will be responsible for ensuring compliance with relevant laws and tax obligations, supervising the payroll team, and maintaining accurate payroll records. The Payroll Manager may develop systems to process payroll transactions, coordinate timekeeping systems, oversee payroll changes and system upgrades, supervise and coach payroll staff, liaise with auditors for payroll tax audits, collaborate with HR and accounting teams, maintain accurate records, and resolve payroll‑related issues.

The following are the duties performed by employees in this classification. In some cases, employees may perform other related duties at an equivalent level.

• Manage payroll operations for all Safe Passages staff, ensuring integrity of payroll systems/processes, and the timely, accurate delivery of pay to personnel. Advise Finance Director and Controller of issues.
• Continuously partner with Executive Management Team, Human Resources, Hiring Managers, and recruiting team to maintain and enhance payroll & benefits operations.
• Resolve payroll errors, monitor terminations, and ensure that status changes are implemented based on federal, state, and local compliance standards. Provide training and support to personnel as needed.
• Process weekly, semi‑monthly, and off‑cycle pay runs for all Safe Passages employees.
• Ensure agency compliance with data privacy; confidentiality; IRS; FLSA; workers compensation; evaluation requirements; and state, local, and agency regulations and reporting requirements.
• Remits all statutory deductions, garnishments, etc. by liaising with the relevant departments and by communicating such deductions with staff.
• Working knowledge in the preparation and filing of payroll tax and other requisite forms.
• Manage internal and external audits for Retirement Plan, Workers Compensation, internal controls, Social Security, etc. Ensure relevant procedures, work papers, and other supporting documents are maintained and up to date.
• Manage payroll compliance with applicable federal and state regulations, including registering with appropriate state taxing agencies to deposit payroll taxes in states where we do not maintain offices.
• Oversee the retrieval and sorting of the mail and communicating with agency and Fiscal Team leadership and staff about notices in a timely manner.
• Recommend and implement payroll guidelines in line with agency standards and expectations and develop policies and procedures accordingly.
• Ensure regulatory compliance for labor legislation, salary ordinances, etc. and adjust the overall strategic plan according to industry best‑practices and the changing industry regulations/laws. Provide trainings to staff accordingly.
• Supervise and/or coordinate multidisciplinary professional and support staff involved in human resources/payroll activities in the department.
• Resolves complex situations, assigns and reviews work, evaluates performance, assists in the selection process for new employees, and supervises the maintenance of employee records.
• Responsible for training and performance management of supervisory, professional and support staff and prepares and participates in completing staff performance evaluations.