State of Maryland

A Central Payroll Clerk III is the full performance level of clerical-accounting payroll work with the Central Payroll Bureau. Employees in this classification do not supervise.

Employees in this classification receive general supervision from a Central Payroll Supervisor, Revenue Administrator or other designated administrator. Employees may be required to work evenings, weekends and holidays based on staffing needs.

Positions in this classification are evaluated using the Classification Job Evaluation Methodology. The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of a class specification.

The Central Payroll Clerk I, Central Payroll Clerk II and Central Payroll Clerk III are differentiated on the basis of the degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees. The Central Payroll Clerk I learns to perform duties under close supervision, the Central Payroll Clerk II performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed, and the Central Payroll Clerk III performs the full range of duties under general supervision. The Central Payroll Clerk III is differentiated from Central Payroll Clerk Lead/Advanced in that the Central Payroll Clerk Lead/Advanced assigns, reviews and approves the work of and trains lower-level Central Payroll Clerks or Fiscal Clerks or performs specialized payroll work that is unique to the Central Payroll Bureau.

Screens, controls and enters payroll records, and tax and deduction authorizations data electronically;

Audits and controls time-payment data submitted by agencies and ensures accuracy and eligibility of the entries by applying knowledge of law, regulations and payroll policies and procedures;

Verifies output of file maintenance and payroll processing runs to ensure that individual pay records are accurate and takes corrective actions where necessary;

Communicates with agencies to provide guidance regarding payroll-related problems, corrections, or procedural issues;

Maintains retrievable files of source documents to provide history for audit trails;

May assist in training lower-level fiscal or payroll clerks on required procedures;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of State and federal tax withholding rules and procedures;

Knowledge of the common books of accounts and of the procedures used in keeping financial records and checking financial documents;

Knowledge of bookkeeping principles, methods and procedures including the calculation of percentages;

Knowledge of the posting and balancing of ledgers and electronic files;

Knowledge of modern office routines, electronic equipment and machines;

Skill in using automated accounting software packages;

Skill in researching discrepancies in accounting and making necessary adjustments;

Ability to apply numerous deductions and other earnings, understanding the rules under which the deductions and earnings are permitted and their effect on withholding tax computations and on wages;

Ability to make calculations using calculators or computers;

Ability to verify computer printouts to controls and to reconcile and correct errors; Ability to maintain records and electronic data files;

Ability to correct and update payroll input;

Ability to instruct employees; Ability to determine priority of work;

Ability to examine reports and other statements for accuracy, completeness and conformance with regulations and payroll procedures;

Ability to establish and maintain records and files;

Ability to work independently in a specialized payroll function;

Ability to communicate effectively;

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with co-workers and outside agency staff;

Ability to use deduction and tax withholding tables to calculate employee’s net wages;

Ability to efficiently use calculators and computers.

Education: Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Two years of experience performing clerical-accounting payroll work.

Note: 1.  Additional education in accounting, data processing or business law may be substituted at the rate of thirty credit hours for each year of the required clerical-accounting payroll experience.

2. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a non-commissioned officer in financial clerical and technician series classification or financial clerical and technician series specialty codes in the logistics field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience. 

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a skilled service classification in the State Personnel Management System. All positions in this classification are skilled service positions. Some positions in skilled service classifications may be designated special appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405. This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit as indicated by the designation of S (supervisor), M (manager), T (agency head), U (Board or Commission member), W (student), X (Used by agency or excluded by executive order), or Z (confidential). As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining. Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and therefore, all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation. An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime as provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series. NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance levels in a classification series. In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series an employee must: 1.) perform the main purpose of the class as defined in the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2.) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification, and 3.) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.