Payroll Specialist — Temporary / Leave Coverage

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Temporary Payroll Specialist to provide full-cycle payroll support during a maternity leave coverage period. This role will manage accurate and timely payroll for three manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin, South Carolina, and California, using Paylocity.

Key Responsibilities

• Process weekly/biweekly, multi-state payroll for hourly manufacturing employees.
• Review time and attendance, overtime, shift differentials, premium pay, deductions, garnishments, new hires, and terminations.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local payroll requirements, including California wage and hour regulations.
• Reconcile payroll, resolve discrepancies, and validate gross-to-net calculations.
• Respond to employee payroll questions and partner with HR, Finance, and plant leadership.
• Support payroll taxes, benefit reconciliations, journal entries, reporting, and year-end activities as needed.
• Troubleshoot Paylocity issues and maintain accurate payroll records.
• Serve as the primary payroll contact throughout the temporary assignment and support smooth transitions at the beginning and end of coverage.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of payroll experience, including lead or payroll management responsibilities.
• Hands-on multi-state payroll experience, including California.
• Paylocity experience strongly preferred; ADP, UKG, Workday, Ceridian, or similar experience considered.
• Experience supporting hourly, manufacturing, or multi-site employee populations.
• Strong knowledge of wage and hour laws, payroll taxes, deductions, and garnishments.
• Strong Excel skills, including pivot tables and VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP.
• Highly detail-oriented, confidential, and able to work independently with minimal ramp-up.

Preferred: CPP certification, manufacturing/industrial payroll experience, union payroll experience, and benefits/HRIS reconciliation experience.