Paying Employees

While nearly all of UC Berkeley’s employees are paid on time, there are a small number of employees who have not been paid on time. Late wage payments are a hardship for employees. Supervisors' and Managers' cooperation is necessary, particularly with respect to following established processes and timelines, to make sure that employees receive compensation on time.

Unlike many employers, the university hires Lecturers, Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs), and other Academic Student Employees (ASEs), sometimes with little lead time. Where advanced planning can occur, every effort should be made to ensure that these employees are hired and onboarded in a timely manner.

Steps managers can take to ensure pay is not interrupted for employees:

Onboarding

  • New Hire Paperwork: Remind new hires they need to respond to the onboarding request and the importance of completing the necessary new hire forms in a timely manner. NOTE: (i.e., if a new hire does not attend their scheduled onboarding session or does not have the necessary documents to complete required new hire forms), they may not be able to begin on the agreed-upon start date. 
  • If the required new hire request and completed documents are not submitted on time (based on published schedules) to Berkeley Regional Service (BRS) staff (or Cal Performance or I-House  HR), the employee will not be updated in UCPath to be paid on time and should not begin work.  

Employee Timekeeping and Communications

  • Timesheets: Remind all employees to complete and submit their timesheets by the communicated deadlines and follow up to ensure completion. Managers should submit a timesheet, or add hours in CalTime, for hours that an employee is known to have worked in order to generate pay.
  • Hourly Employees: Hourly employees (students and staff), should be asked to log their hours each day via CalTime or on a paper timesheet, as appropriate, instead of waiting until the end of the pay period.

Collaborate with your HR Partner

  • Short Work Break (SWB): If you have employees who are on an SWB, work with your assigned HR Partner to make sure breaks are ended so the employee can be returned to pay status as necessary.
  • Plan Ahead: Collaborate with your HR Partner to obtain a report with approaching appointment end dates for your review, so you can request appointments be extended or ended, as appropriate.
  • BRS Process Review:  the BRS are reviewing their processes to determine enhancements that can be made to partner with departments to ensure employees are paid on time.
If you receive a formal wage claim directly from the Labor Commissioner’s Office filed by one of your employees: 

Use the Labor Commission Wage Claim Submission Form and attach a scanned copy of the claim. It will go to a central team for investigation and response.