Supervisor Time Approver Required Practice

Effective Date: 
January 17, 2024
Last Revised Date: 
January 12, 2024

Purpose & Summary

To outline ALVSCE required practices related to Supervisors as Time Approvers.  Errors in proper payroll operations create significant liability for the University, Division, and time approver.  

Federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employees who work must be paid. Pay must take the form of salary or wage compensation.

  • UA is subject to Wage and Hour audits by the Department of Labor. Any fines and penalties determined must be paid by that specific unit.
  • Time approvers certify that the timesheets are correct and accurate. There is potential for intentional and unintentional coercion if responsibility is delegated inappropriately.

Standardized requirements increase operational efficiency.  This policy aims to reduce the number of off-cycle paycheck requests. Off-cycle paycheck requests cause workload burdens across many UA departments and cost more to process.

Scope

This required practice applies to all ALVSCE units including Cooperative Extension and Arizona Experiment Stations.

Policy

Supervisor Responsibilities

  1. Supervisors must serve as official time approvers for all direct report employees. Supervisors are the closest to the work schedules and attendance of their direct reports and have the best information to certify the accuracy of timesheets.
  2. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to review and approve (as applicable) all time submitted by their direct reports in UAccess each pay period.  Blind approval of an employee’s time is not permitted.
  3. Supervisors must review all submitted time for both positive reporters and salaried employees.
  4. Supervisors must familiarize themselves with the university’s Time Reporting Deadlines in order for their employee’s pay to be processed on time. 
  5. Supervisors should show new employees how to correctly complete a UA timesheet, using proper procedures for either exempt or non-exempt employees.
     

Qualified Exception

In rare instances, a supervisor may request that a qualified and appropriate delegate approve the time for their direct reports for a given pay period. Any requests for exceptions should follow the following procedure:

  1. All requests must receive written approval of a Dean, Director, or Unit Head based on a compelling issue of hierarchy, geographic dislocation, or other business justification in order to be valid.

           Note: Inconvenience or busy schedule is not a justifiable reason to not approve an employee’s time. 

  1. The justification must be kept in the unit HR file. Inconvenience or busy schedule is not a justifiable reason to not approve an employee’s time. 
  2. The written request must be submitted well in advance of the time approval deadline for that time period. 
  3. If an exception to this policy is being requested for an extended period of time, that must be clearly stated and all dates must be included in the written request.
  4. The unit business office may determine whether there is a default approver designee for these types of situations, ensuring proper levels of separation in the event of consanguine employees working together (ABOR Policy 6-704).
     

Employee Responsibilities

All employees must fill out their timesheets accurately and timely in UAccess Employee. It is the responsibility of the employee to understand university Time Reporting Deadlines in order to be paid on time for each pay period.

  • Employees are responsible for understanding the information on Accessing/Reporting Time
  • Approval must be sought prior to working overtime. Non-exempt employees must be paid overtime pay when working more than 40 hours/week, per FLSA, or the time may be accrued for holiday closure.
     

Segregation of Payroll Duties

There must be segregation of payroll duties. No single person may have control over all phases of payroll. Supervisors are responsible for reviewing the Payroll Segregation of Duties webpage.

  • Individual – employee/direct report, responsible for completing job duties and entering time worked.
  • Time Approver – supervisor, responsible for verifying time reported/leave taken and approves individual’s time.
  • Time Coordinator – Business Office personnel responsible for ensuring all time has been reported by supervisor time approvers in their unit.