Tionna De Freitas, Staff Writer

Utica College’s Office of Student Employment offers great opportunities for students to hold jobs in their field of study while earning their degrees.

With a new semester underway and a number of new students taking on new jobs, the Office of Student Employment has a lot to account for on a tight schedule.

“All the pay periods are made in advance, December 31st an email was sent out to all employers about the 2016 semester telling them to accept their jobs,” Student Employment Coordinator Rebecca Sullivan said.

Student jobs on campus are all electronically based. In order to get paid, you must accept the job on your account and fill out an online time sheet with the number of hours you worked each day before the payment cycle ends.

Without approving or filling out a time sheet, and submitting it to your supervisor, you most likely have to revert to a paper time sheet which could delay payment.

“It’s all time sensitive and date driven system,” Sullivan added. “I’m trying to do away with them for good because some students really have a problem with that deadline.”

The online time sheets lock you out of your account after the deadline, forcing you to go to student employment and filling out paper time sheets. For Junior Olivia Osipovitch, she says dealing with time sheets last minute can lead to a long process of waiting to get paid.

“I didn’t get paid for almost four weeks, I never accepted my job or filled out my time sheet,” she said. “I had to back track my hours and write them down on paper then get it signed by my supervisor. It was just too much back and forth.”

Sullivan said it will be very difficult to get rid of paper time sheets completely because there is always that one person who will miss that deadline, but it also raises a concern.

“It’s a duplicate payroll record with both online records and paper records, payroll has to be very careful when they cross examine and record these hours,” she said.

Senior Nathan Hackett had similar issues this semester with being approved for a new job. Due to his issues being approved, he missed the first pay period because due to this issue.

“The issue was when I was switching jobs, I wasn’t getting the timesheet for my new job because it wasn’t authorized,” Hackett said. “I went to visit the office and eventually they found it, but it took a few days for it to be processed and ready.”

Student employee, Jaida De Grisitna said it should be the supervisor’s job to handle payroll and manage hours.

“I know we make our own schedules, but to make things easier our supervisors should keep track when we come in and leave and at the end of the day or week submit those hours to payroll.”

With holidays passing and other important events coming up, Sullivan said filling out and making sure time sheets are in, are the last thing on anyone’s mind.

“Along with the school email that is sent out. I think supervisors should be reminding their employers to fill out their timesheets.” Communication is going to get everyone paid on time, according Sullivan.

Featured Image: Photo by Rashida Patrick.