Topics Map > Human Resource System (HRS) > Payroll

Entering Deceased Employee Payroll Data in HRS

Overview

This document includes all areas that MUST be reviewed to ensure the deceased employee is paid in a timely manner for wages, benefit refunds, and ensure all taxes are withheld correctly from the employee's final paycheck. Follow these steps when notified of an employees death.

Process Considerations:

  • The death of an employee can have a significant impact on wages, taxes, and benefits.  To ensure all potential impacts have been addressed on a timely basis, please open a ticket to the UWSS Service Operations.
  • All steps MUST be done in a timely manner to meet federal and state guidelines.
  • If notified of the employees death after their final payroll has ran and the employee was overpaid, this will result in the need for a check correction to be submitted by the institution as the employee's estate would owe us a refund for the earnings.  If it's early enough that a reversal of the final payment can happen, this is the preferred method. We would then pay the employee the amount owed on the final check we are creating.
  • If an employee has a non-paid appointment, most of the steps shown below are not needed.

Process Inputs:

  • WiscIt from campus or department with any earnings due to employee
  • Benefits reconciliation for any premiums due 
  • Absence Management review for any termination payout

Process Outputs:

  • Final off-cycle payment
  • Benefits review
  • ETF Notified of WRS Hours and Earnings
You may click on the links below to navigate directly to a section:

Instructions

The department or institution HR Administrator should enter the termination in Job Data and request a ticket be created for the deceased employee.  The ticket should include any wages that would be due to the employee for the final payroll check.  All leave should also be entered in HRS.  If the final check has already been issued and they have been overpaid, a check correction should be completed to get the overpaid wages back.  The ticket should be forwarded to the Service Operations Payroll department.  The UWSS Service Operations Payroll Department will receive the ticket and complete the Deceased Employee Checklist form.

1.  Below are the steps that will be done to insure the final payment to the Estate is complete and correct.  

  • Payroll - Review of wages that have been paid or are owed 
  • Payroll - Name will be changed to "The Estate Of" for all checks
  • Payroll - Tax page will be updated to insure any taxes withheld comply with regulations
  • Absence Management - Review of term payouts that may be owed 
  • BERT - Complete review of benefits to determine any refunds that may be owed    
  • WRS - Make sure all wages and deductions reconcile and ETF is notified of the death
  • Payroll - Watch the final payroll to make sure an additional on-cycle check isn't created 
2. After all reconciliations are done an off-cycle payment is created.
  • Per off-cycle processing guidelines, the payment will be dated the following Wednesday.  
3. If a paper check was created, it will be mailed directly to the employees last address in HRS. If the employee has an active direct deposit account set up it will deposit on the following Friday into their bank account. If the employee has an active Focus paycard set up, the Service Operations payroll team will stop the payment from paying to the Focus paycard and instead will create a paper check.


Keywords:
Death Died Termination off cycle check final paycheck off cycle PY, Payroll PY, Payroll PY, Payroll 
Doc ID:
74957
Owned by:
jenny j. in UW–Shared Services
Created:
2017-07-31
Updated:
2024-05-14
Sites:
UW–Shared Services