Johnson School Administrative Service Center: Employee, Supervisor, and Payroll Representative Responsibilities with COLTS II

Administrative Service Center
235 Sage Hall
Phone : 607- 255-7541
Fax : 607-255-2823

Employee, Supervisor, and Payroll Representative Responsibilities with COLTS II

Verification of Hours Entered Into COLTS II

Notification of Payroll Deadlines for OPE, Student Employees and Supervisors/Approvers

PAYROLL VERIFICATION AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES: OPI and Faculty

PAYROLL VERIFICATION AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES: OPE and Students

Disposition of Checks

Verification of Hours Entered in COLTS II:

All regular and temporary, nonexempt (OPE) and student employees participate in COLTS II and employee approvals are due no later than 8:00 a.m. on the day after the last date shown in the employee’s COLTS II record. Payroll Representative(s) will not review each and every entry to ensure that employees have entered and approved their hours. It is the responsibility of the employee to ensure that they have entered their hours.

It is also the employee’s responsibility to remind their respective Supervisor or secondary or tertiary Approver to go into COLTS II to approve their hours. This approval is due no later than 10:00 a.m. on the same date.

Once you have recorded and approved your hours in COLTS:

let the individual(s) who can approve your hours know that they can now go into COLTS to approve your hours; and
validate that your hours are actually approved. This, of course, means going back into COLTS one last time.

If you have any problems - authorized approvers are not available or system difficulties with COLTS - contact the Administrative Service Center at X5-5037 or by email at AdministrativeServices@johnson.cornell.edu.

All OPE and student employees are assigned primary, secondary and tertiary Approvers; the primary being the actual Supervisor. Those assigned as secondary and tertiary Approvers are authorized to approve hours in the absence of the Supervisor. Such authority does not infer a reporting relationship.

Both the recording and approving in COLTS II can be done from any computer on campus and from home for anyone who has access to Cornell’s computing system. Go to Bear Access and click on the COLTS II icon.

It is the responsibility of the Supervisor and/or Approver to ensure that overtime recorded has “prior approval.” Used Vacation, Sick Leave or Leave with Pay must be time the employee has accrued and in the case of Vacation, if the Vacation will be taken prior to one year of service with the University, the employee and supervisor must provide the Administrative Service Center with a signed Vacation Usage Consent Form. It is the employee’s responsibility to record Vacation and/or Sick Leave only if and when there are accrued balances. This information can be obtained within COLTS II. If an individual does not have any accrued Vacation and/or Sick Leave, no hours should be recorded for time away. It is understood that the employee must take this time as Leave without Pay. The Johnson School does not advocate allowing employees to go in arrears unless there are unusual circumstances and a written agreement between the employee, Supervisor, and Administrative Service Center outlining the terms for repaying the time, if it becomes necessary, due to resignation or termination, must be provided. It is also the Supervisor’s responsibility to verify that hours recorded by the employee under Vacation, Sick Leave or Leave with Pay are legitimate. This information can be obtained by going into an employee's record in COLTS II and clicking on the "Balance" button. Any Vacation and/or Sick Leave accruals will be displayed. Employees begin to accrue Sick Leave and Vacation immediately, but are not eligible to take Vacation until they complete one year's employment. Supervisors may allow a nonexempt employee to take Vacation after six months with an executed Vacation Usage Consent Form filed in the Administrative Service Center. If termination of employment occurs prior to completing one year of service, the amount of vacation used will be deducted from the employee's final paycheck. For additional information, click here for the University's Human Resource's Policies Manual. Sick leave should be monitored carefully and Supervisors are discouraged from allowing employees to have negative balances. Personal and/or Health Leave is deducted from Sick Leave balances. Each employee can use up to three of their accrued Sick Leave days each year for Personal Leave and three for Health Leave. Personal and/or Health Leave is not tracked in COLTS and these balances must be maintained by the Supervisor.

The Payroll Representative(s) will perform random audits. If it is determined that an employee has recorded Vacation and/or Sick Leave and does not have the time accrued, or is not eligible, the employee or Approver will be contacted and asked to remove the approvals and adjust the hours recorded. If the parties are not available, the Payroll Representative(s) will override the approvals and remove the hours. If there is a special arrangement, the employee and/or Supervisor is advised to notify the Administrative Service Center before the deadline of 10:00 a.m.

Students are not permitted overtime pay or holiday pay. Managers are discouraged from allowing students to work on holidays. Students should not be substituted for regular full time employees so as not to have to pay overtime. Please see Working on a Holiday for compensation options for regular full time employees.

For additional information on accruals, visit the following links: OPE Accruals, Professional Leave Accrual System and Vacation and Sick Leave Accruals.

top of page

Notification of Payroll Deadlines for OPE, Student Employees and Supervisors/Approvers:

Reminders will be sent via the Administrative Service Center to Students, OPE Employees and Supervisors/Approvers (if time permits) advising them to go into COLTS to either record or approve hours. In addition, annual Pay Calendars with Pay Days and Approval Days clearly indicated are available at the following links: Student and OPE Pay Calendar and Faculty and OPI Pay Calendar. OPE employees are advised, when hired, of COLTS deadlines, etc., and are encouraged to remind their Supervisor when it is time to go in and approve their hours. No one should depend solely on the reminders. In the event none of the authorized Approvers are available, arrangements can be made with the Administrative Service Center (X5-5037) if contacted before the 10:00 a.m. Approvers deadline on the date in which COLTS is due to approve hours.

top of page

Payroll Verification and Notification Procedures:

OPI and Faculty:

An Interim Pay Report accompanies the pay checks and advices (pay stubs) received from the University Payroll Office each Pay Day and includes the “gross salary” for each individual being compensated. This information is verified against an Excel worksheet prepared by the Administrative Service Center. The worksheet includes Extra Compensation Payments processed by the School in the pay period in question. In lieu of checking every pay stub or advice, verification is done as follows:

1. For all NEW employees who join the School during the payroll period in question;

2. For all TERMINATING employees who leave during the payroll period in question;

3. For all individuals receiving Extra Compensation Payments, including merit increases, bonuses, etc., during the payroll period.

4. A random verification is done each pay period with the intention that every exempt, nonexempt and/or student employee’s pay check or advice will be checked at least once during the fiscal year. The individual or individuals performing this task will initial and date the transactions.

OPE and Students:

A similar report is provided each Pay Day from the University Payroll Office indicating “gross salaries” resulting from hours recorded in COLTS II by all hourly employees (including OPE’s and students). Validation of new hires and terminated employees is done as appropriate.

top of page

Disposition of Checks

Pay checks and/or advices for all regularly employed faculty and staff are placed in their respective mailboxes on the Classroom Level. If an individual does not have a mailbox, their check or advice is sent via U.S. Mail to the address which appears on the outside of the pay envelope. Student pay checks and/or advices are held in the Administrative Service Center for ten (10) business days after each biweekly or semi-monthly pay date and then returned to the University Payroll Office, as suggested by them, located at East Hill Plaza where they may be picked up with photo identification. Students are advised to verify their W-2 address in Just the Facts (located in Bear Access) to ensure that it is their local address and not their permanent or parent’s address. The W-2 address is used by the Payroll Office to mail W-2 tax information in January and is the address used on checks/advices. Address changes for OPE, OPI and Faculty can be made using Employee Essentials. Additionally, faculty and staff are asked to notify the Administrative Service Center of an address changes.

Pay checks are handled by authorized personnel only and never left unattended or in an unsecured location.

top of page

For more information, visit http://colts2.cornell.edu/gt.shtml