Payroll Clerk Principal Account Clerk – Payroll Department, Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA [SY2025-2026]

Payroll Clerk - Principal Account Clerk Payroll Department Salem Public Schools Salem MA SY2025-2026

Principal Account Clerk rate set by AFSCME (currently $30.77/hr)

40 hrs/week

About Salem Public Schools where belonging leads to opportunity.

Salem is a small diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district enrolling nearly 4000 students in 11 schools. Our vision is to ensure that all students will be locally engaged globally connected and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world. We hold dear our core values of belonging equity and opportunity in everything we do. We seek individuals who are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement for all students regardless of ability economic status gender/gender identity language race/ethnicity sexual orientation or other backgrounds. We invite you to learn more about our strategic plan and core priorities on our website at

Essential Duties:

Under the supervision of the Payroll Manager and the Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations the Payroll Clerk is responsible for the preparation and processing of payroll for all School Department employees. The Payroll Clerk will process all aspects of payroll with particular duties/responsibilities assigned by the Payroll Manager.

Payroll

• Assist in facilitating new hire onboarding and follow up meetings.
• Maintain confidential information such as Leave of Absences salaries stipends union issues payroll deductions and garnishments.
• Respond to a high volume of employee inquiries regarding payroll and work directly with the Human Resource department as needed to resolve any issues.
• Assist in the collection and review of submitted timesheets and other mandatory forms essential to process and complete payroll into MUNIS system for 1000 employees paid weekly & biweekly.
• Assist in issuing and recording adjustments due to COLA increases step increments absences overtime leave of absence and retro payments.
• Assist in creating Salary tables and pay calendars update and monitor payroll website pages as needed.
• Maintain payroll & personnel records of FMLA and time and attendance.
• Perform internal audits as requested.
• Process wage verifications and generate reports as needed.
• Oversee the time off management system (Frontline) and work collaboratively to expand the use of the system.
• Assist in the maintenance of employee accrual data including daily attendance annual sick leave sick leave bank personal and professional leaves sick leave as received from all school departments. Generate accrual reports for administrators upon request. Monitor employee sick personal and vacation time to ensure balances do not exceed contractual agreements. Adjust payroll amounts for individuals who exceed contractual balances
• Other duties as assigned by the Payroll Manager or Business Manager.

Benefits and Reporting

• Upload and complete monthly MTRS reporting

Act as a backup for/assist in the preparation of:

• Submitting monthly deduction reports and payments to vendors of benefits offered and withheld from employee pay
• Maintaining benefit records and calculating deductions for Disability Dental premiums and 403(b) contributions
• Coordinating Open enrollment periods intake of changes and submit documents to appropriate Vendors
• Processing time off requests track and issue end of year vacation and sick leave buybacks.
• Preparing and submitting disability claims

Requirements:

• Previous experience in payroll required; experience in municipal or school district payroll strongly preferred.
• Understanding of accounting principles and practices demonstrated through work experience and/or post-secondary education.
• Fluency in spreadsheet and computer applications including Microsoft Excel Word PowerPoint and Google Docs
• Strong ability to accurately process payroll data and maintain detailed records
• Knowledge of Munis a plus or capable of learning quickly
• Must be able to handle large volume of data and multiple projects
• Exceptional attention to detail and strong deadline orientation
• Critical thinking skills able to work independently and as a team
• Understanding of municipal unions and contracts COLA adjustments
• Knowledge of standard office procedures practices forms and equipment; dexterity and accuracy in operating adding machines and word processing keyboards.
• Ability to understand learn interpret and explain payroll policies and procedures and to apply such guidelines appropriately to different situations.
• Ability to interact effectively and pleasantly with a wide variety of individuals including school department employees co-workers outside professionals and members of the public.
• Ability to understand select and perform basic mathematical calculations efficiently and accurately.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Ability to perform multiple tasks and deal effectively with interruptions.
• Ability to perform detailed work accurately and with dispatch.
• Ability to utilize and operate computerized information systems (databases).
• Extreme Attention to detail and deadline oriented
• Strong organizational and time-management skills

Work Year: The Principal Account Clerk works a full-time full-year (260-day) work year. Please visit to view the 2025-26 district and/or school calendar.

Salary: Compensation for Account Clerks in the Salem Public Schools are determined by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) collective bargaining agreement.

Benefits: The City of Salem offers all full-time employees Group Insurance Commission (GIC) benefits. Click here for more information about our health benefits.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race color religion national origin pregnancy gender identity sexual orientation marital/civil union status ancestry place of birth age citizenship status veteran status political affiliation genetic information or disability as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.

Required Experience:

Staff IC