Home     Committee Activity     FAQ's




FAQ's About the Common Payroll Vendor

1. I’ve heard the diocese is going to centralized payroll. Is that true?

No, it is not true. All parishes, schools and diocesan departments will go to a common payroll vendor to manage and process their payroll and human resource functions through a common provider. The vendor will process payroll and payroll tax reporting for all diocesan parishes, schools and agencies. The common vendor will maintain an updated software system, tax rules and tables and maintain compliance with federal and state regulatory agencies.

2. With the common payroll vendor, will the parish and schools still make the decision of who they hire, how much they pay their employees, and other staffing needs?

Absolutely. The parish and schools know best your resource needs and budget limitations, and those choices and decisions will continue to reside with the parish and schools. By using a common payroll vendor, there will be an opportunity to review practices across the state and to ensure compliance within the guidelines of federal agencies such as Fair Labor Standards Board, IRS, and like state agencies.

3. Why are we doing this now?

There are several reasons why we are moving to a common payroll vendor at this time. Among them are that State and Federal government agencies, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, continue to mandate regulations and reporting requirements surrounding the administration of employee pay. These complex regulations increase our responsibility to be in compliance with employee compensation and benefit practices. Specifically:
  • Federal immigration compliance
  • South Carolina immigration compliance
  • Family Medical Leave Act
  • Fair Labor Standards Act
  • USCCB Charter requirements
  • Internal Revenue Service
We believe a common payroll vendor will aid us all to be compliant with these every-changing and complex laws, regulations and guidelines.

4. Are other dioceses doing this?

Yes. In fact we are the only diocese in our region not using a common payroll vendor at this time. The Dioceses of Charlotte, Atlanta, Raleigh, Birmingham and Savannah all use common payroll vendor service.

5. What is the benefit to my parish/school?

There are many benefits for parishes and schools. Among them are the following:

  • Automated processing of payroll, issued pay checks or direct deposit to all employees
  • Automated calculation of available vacation and sick benefits
  • Automated transmittal report of 403b contributions
  • Determination of compliance with U.S. Dept. of Labor minimum salary requirements for classification as exempt
  • Automatic completion of Forms 941, W-2, W-3
  • Automatic submission of S.C. new hire forms
  • Accounting interface with the parish general ledger
  • Generation of all tax reports
  • Eliminate the need of parish and school staff to stay abreast of tax law changes and regulations
  • Elimination of annual maintenance fee and installation of updated software for those organizations managing an internal payroll system.
  • Reduced liability and exposure to parishes and schools who are in compliance from those parishes and schools who are not in compliance
  • Improved disaster recovery and replication and continuity of payroll processing in the event of a natural disaster, i.e. hurricane, severe thunderstorms, etc.
  • Ease of transition from one priest to another, particularly with regards to newly ordained and foreign priests
  • Shift the burden of regulatory compliance to a third party

6. Will this change the timing of when our people are paid?

It will depend. One potential change, depending on the parish’s current pay schedule, is more time may be required between the end of the pay period and the pay date. For most entities the pay date will be one week after the end of the pay period, which is the norm for most organizations. The payroll vendor will assist you with this transition.

7. How will this work with staff, teachers, who are paid on a 10 or 11 month schedule?

It will have no impact. The common payroll vendor will accommodate special pay cycles.

8. What about employees who are paid per diem?

As long as this practice is in compliance with federal and state regulations, the practice may be continued.

9. Will there be some sort of directive on how much we can pay our employees?

So long as the compensation practices are in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, the determination of pay will be the responsibility of the parish or school administration.

10. Can employees continue to have certain deductions made from their pay?

Provided each deduction is in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

11. How will this change the work of staff who perform the payroll task?

It depends on how the parish/school is currently processing payroll. Most parishes and schools in the Diocese of Charleston process payroll in-house, while 25% use a vendor. With the common payroll vendor, the vendor will process the payroll, issue pay checks or provide for direct deposit, remit all tax payments, provide for the accounting interface with the general ledger and generate all tax reports. Additionally, the common payroll vendor will be responsible for updating the payroll software, system backups, tax table updates, regulatory compliance, quarterly and year end federal and state tax filings, etc.

12. How much work will this add to our parish payroll function?

The common payroll vendor will allow for increased efficiency in processing payroll. There will be some reduced labor costs since check preparation; check signing and tax deposits will be eliminated. This will allow you and your staff to spend more time in other areas of parish and school life. This will eliminate the cost of any annual updating that is required for users of Quickbooks, Peachtree and PDS.

13. How much will this cost my parish? I’m concerned about adding overhead.

We are all concerned about cost. At this time we have not finalized our selection of a vendor so it currently remains undetermined. An intra-diocesan committee comprised of school and parish representatives will be looking at this and all others aspects of the common payroll vendor and will make a recommendation that will best serve both small and large parishes and schools. The representatives are employees of parishes and schools who responded to our survey and volunteered to serve.

14. We recently started using PDS and it works well for us. Why should we be asked to change?

While it may be working well for your parish, we have to look at the larger picture of needs within the entire diocese in order to insure compliance with existing laws, regulations, and guidelines. In addition, a common payroll vendor will enable census data to be gathered for benefit design and bidding purposes.

15. Is it an option to opt-out of participating in the Common Payroll Vendor?

To maximize the full scope of benefits and minimize the risk and liability due to non-compliance of ever more stringent federal, state and Church employment laws and regulations, unanimous participation within the diocesan community is necessary. Bishop Guglielmone is well aware of the process and shares the concerns of impact of increased regulation and the need to be proactive in addressing these requirements.

16. How will this interface with other programs I am using to manage parish finances?

This is one of the issues that will be reviewed by the committee working on the selection of the vendor. The committee will consider all of the concerns brought forth in our recent Payroll Survey sent to all parishes and schools. We will do our best to address survey responses, and if possible to accommodate the concerns which were submitted. However, if we were not made aware of any unique concerns, we will not be able to consider them.

17. When will a decision be made?

We would like to implement the new common payroll vendor at the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1, 2009), but the date may have to be adjusted depending on the discussion and review process of the committee and the approval of the bishop.

18. If my parish needs to change systems, how will we be informed of this? Will we need to attend some training?

Training will be provided and that can be done in a variety of ways, including on-site training, regional training, webinars, etc. This is one of the areas of discussion the selection committee will address.

We have established a link on the diocesan web site to keep everyone informed. At this time, we are providing summaries of the committee’s activities, and a Q&A format. We have compiled a FAQ sheet based on feedback we received from the payroll survey responses---this is also on the Common Payroll Vendor link. We have established an email address for you to send any questions, concerns, and other thoughts you feel will be helpful to the selection committee. The email address is:

We welcome your input, so….


Stay in touch, and stay tuned!