Welcome to the Payroll Glossary, a resource designed to support department administrators in carrying out payroll-related responsibilities with confidence and accuracy. This page provides clear, standardized definitions of key payroll terms, processes, and acronyms you may encounter when submitting payroll actions or addressing payroll questions. Familiarity with this terminology is essential for ensuring compliance with payroll policies, facilitating accurate transactions, and supporting the timely and correct payment of employees.
- ACH Reversal
An ACH Reversal is when an individual has been paid via direct deposit (bank ACH payment) in Pitt Worx and the department is seeking to recoup the funds from the individual’s bank account. If an employee’s payment was incorrect, and the payroll has been finalized, the department administrator has the ability to request that the payment is reversed from the employee’s bank account. Please note, we are not able to process partial ACH reversals, only full pay reversals for the original deposit amount. The account that the payment will be reversed from is the employee’s banking account that was on file in Pitt Worx at the time the payroll was finalized.
The department administrator is responsible for notifying the individual when a reversal has been requested and must notify the individual to leave the funds in their account for the reversal process to be successful. Written authorization from the employee consenting to the reversal is required.
The ACH Reversal deadline for the biweekly payroll is 2:00pm the day before the biweekly payday, and the monthly/UPP2 reversal deadlines are 2:00pm two business days before the payday. We may still be able to process an ACH reversal up to 5 business days after payday; however, the employee will have access to these funds.
Typically, the day the reversal is submitted in the banking system by Payroll, the employee will see the reversal come out of their bank account the next 1-2 business days.
To request a reversal, the department administrator must submit an inquiry and select Payroll > Reversal/Overpayment.
- Check Stop Pay
The process of a bank stop payment on a payroll check that has already been issued but needs to be canceled. This can happen for various reasons, such as the check being lost, issued in error, or due to an overpayment. Once the stop payment request is processed, payroll must allow 72 hours to confirm the stop has been placed. The bank will prevent the check from being cashed or deposited. If you are the administrator submitting a request for a check stop pay, you must let the employee know that they cannot cash the check if/when they receive it.
To request a check stop pay, the department administrator must submit an inquiry and select Payroll > Reversal/Overpayment.
- Day 1
Day 1 is the day that the payroll is processed, therefore all actions for the current pay period must be approved.
- All biweekly and monthly Pitt Worx actions for the current pay period being processed must be completed by the 1:00PM deadline on Day 1.
- All UPP2 Pitt Worx actions for the current pay period being processed must be completed by the 5:00pm deadline the day before Day 1.
- Day 2
Day 2 is the day after the payroll has run when preview payroll registers are available for review. On Day 2, the Payroll Department reviews the results of the payroll, resolves errors, and runs audit reports prior to finalizing the payroll. Payroll is able to process a retry to adjust the pay for an employee if all Pitt Worx actions have been approved. Payroll is also able to process a delete to remove an employee from the payroll. If you know prior to payday that an employee should not be paid (terminations, contract changes, leave of absence) please notify us by submitting an inquiry as soon as possible before the retry deadline. Payroll can stop a pay from processing to prevent an overpayment. Once a corrected action is submitted and approved, a new pay can be issued. Departments have until the following deadlines for each payroll to request retries or deletes by submitting an inquiry selecting Payroll > Payroll Retry Request:
- Until 11:00AM on Day 2 for the biweekly payroll.
- Until 6:00PM on Day 2 for the monthly payroll.
- Final Payroll Register
This is the final report generated after the payroll has been finalized and payments can no longer be altered. This report serves as an official record of the payroll for that period. The final register contains gross earnings by type, net pay, and will indicate in the far-right corner either direct deposit or check depending on the employee’s payment method on file. The total page for each area of responsibility must be signed, dated, and retained for a period of three years. Both electronic and physical methods of storage are acceptable. If storing electronically, we recommend that you save each total page to a confidential internal drive for three years.
For more information, refer to the Payroll Register Review Procedure.- Foreign National Information Form (FNIF)
Required information that is needed for processing Foreign Nationals as it relates to tax information.
- Functional Calendar
A monthly functional calendar that includes pay dates and important payroll deadlines for items such as timecards, action approval, service requests (QuickPay/off-cycle), retry requests, ACH reversals, retroactive processing, and other critical deadlines. This helps ensure departments complete all required payroll actions timely.
- Individual Compensation Plan (ICP)-SPAR Costed
This is an Individual Compensation Plan payment that provides separate payments to an individual, such as a training grant payment, summer sessions, etc. that is charged to the account information on the SPAR. Therefore, these payments do not require an account number for submission.
For more information, refer to the Pitt Worx Hub.
- Late Action Charts
The Late Action Charts outline the steps and corrective actions needed to address various late payroll activities, such as late new hires, late pay increases, late terminations, and other late payroll adjustments.
For more information, refer to the payroll website.
- Net Reissue
A net reissue is the process of reissuing a payment to an employee for the net amount they are owed. This may occur if the employee's original check was lost or if the ACH payment was returned by the bank due to incorrect direct deposit information.
- New Hire/Rehire Onboarding Deadline
New hires/rehires must have their Talent Center E-Offer and Pre-Hire onboarding processes completed by this deadline, otherwise they will not be included in the payroll process for the current pay period when it runs on Day 1.
- Preview Payroll Register
This is a required preview audit report generated before the payroll is finalized. It allows payroll administrators to review and verify the accuracy of payroll data and to identify and correct any errors or discrepancies before finalizing payroll. The preview register includes detailed information on gross earnings by type and net pay for each employee for the current pay period.
The Check Register Preview is an auditing requirement.
For more information, refer to the Payroll Register Review Procedure.
- Retroactive Process
Pitt Worx automatically identifies retroactive changes made to an employee’s record that affect prior pay periods, such as salary changes, late terminations, or corrections to hours approved on the timecard. The system calculates the difference between what was paid and what should have been paid based on the effective date of the change. The calculated retroactive amounts are then included with the next regular payroll run. The deadline for retroactive changes for biweekly, monthly, and UPP2 employees is at 12:00PM the day before the payroll is processed (i.e. the day before Day 1).
Note that an employee must have processed through the prior pay period for the automatic retro process to apply. Be sure to verify on your payroll register that the expected amount is correct. Refer to the functional monthly calendars for the retroactive payroll processing deadline as these deadlines are before the regular payroll deadline.
- Retry
The retry process provides department administrators with an opportunity to correct an employee’s pay prior to the payroll being finalized. Changes made after the payroll processing deadline on the functional monthly calendar will not automatically occur without your retry request authorization. Retry requests should only be submitted once the corrective action is fully approved in Pitt Worx.
The department administrator must submit an inquiry selecting Payroll > Payroll Register Retry Request before the deadline for the change to occur. The deadlines for submitting retry requests are:
- Biweekly: 11:00am on Biweekly Day 2.
- Monthly: 6:00pm on Monthly Day 2.
- UPP2: 10:00am on UPP2 Day 2.
- Service Request for QuickPay (Off Cycle Payment)
Process that allows for a payment to be issued to an individual outside the regular payroll cycle. It is intended to handle payments for financial hardships and urgent pay needs when an individual cannot wait for the next regular payday. Service Requests for QuickPay should only be submitted under these circumstances. Departments will be charged a service request fee of $75 for each off cycle pay that is needed due to the additional exception processing costs.
The department administrator may submit an inquiry and select Payroll > Payroll Service Request for an off-cycle payment.