Handbook of Operating Procedures

I. POLICY AND GENERAL STATEMENT

The Payroll Office will prepare paychecks and direct deposit earnings statements for the employees and student appointees of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston ("University") according to the following schedule:

• All employees, student appointees and casual employees will be paid on either a biweekly or a semi-monthly schedule.  The biweekly schedule only applies to certain hourly employees.  Employees should be advised by their department as to which schedule applies to them.

If a scheduled payday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, checks will be distributed on the following Monday. If a payday falls on a holiday, checks will be distributed on the following work day.

No checks will be issued prior to a scheduled payday, and advances against earnings will not be allowed.

If the employee's or student appointee's appointment or separation cannot be processed by the deadline for the regularly scheduled payroll, the paycheck will be processed in the following payroll.

II. PROCEDURE

A. Paycheck Correction

If an employee or student appointee discovers an error in his or her paycheck, he or she should notify the Payroll Office.  The Payroll Office will take appropriate action to correct any discrepancies.  If the Payroll Office discovers an error in the paycheck of an employee or student appointee, it will notify that person and the person's department of the error at the time of discovery and compensate for the error by modifying the amount of the individual's next paycheck accordingly. 

B. Direct Deposit

All employees and stipend recipients may participate in electronic funds transfer, known as direct deposit, by completing the online Direct Deposit section of Self Service.  Employees and stipend recipients who do not have access to  Self Service may use the Authorization Agreement for Direct Deposit form. For detailed instructions, see the Direct Deposit webpage. 

C. Final Paychecks

The supervisor of an employee who is separating from the University (or of a student appointee whose appointment has ended) will initiate a termination personnel action (PA) on behalf of the individual. The individual will be issued a final paycheck in the next payroll after an approved termination PA is processed.

The final payroll check for a separated employee (or for a student appointee whose appointment has ended) will be handled the same way as during employment (either by direct deposit or paper check mailed to home address in Self Service).  For other arrangements, the employee should contact the payroll department directly. 

Employees who are eligible and who have vacation hours accrued when they terminate will be paid a lump-sum payment for the remaining hours. The payment is based on an hourly rate calculation as prescribed by the State Comptroller's Office.  After final timesheets are submitted and approved, payroll will verify vacation hours and make the lump-sum vacation payment within two scheduled payrolls after all regular salary payments have been made.

One-half of the sick leave balance (up to 336 hours maximum) is paid to the estate of an employee who dies while employed. In the case of the death of an employee who has an accrued vacation leave balance after six months of continuous employment, the employee’s estate will be paid for all of the accumulated vacation leave.  The same method is used to calculate the payment of sick leave as is used for payment of vacation hours.  See also HOOP 28, Vacation.

III. CONTACTS

• • Payroll Office
  • 713-500-3962
  • payroll@uth.tmc.edu
  • https://inside.uth.edu/finance/payroll/contact-us.htm

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