It has been a number of years since U of S employees received a hard copy of details concerning their pay on every payday. At one time U of S employees received a cheque along with a write up of those details, including information about any salary changes and deductions from gross pay. With direct deposit, employees are expected to access that information online as needed. 

Despite changes over the years, knowing what should be happening with your pay and raising any questions or concerns as quickly as possible remains important. If a mistake is made, there is plenty of legal precedent that says the mistake needs to be corrected. Consequently, USFA members can be assured that they will receive what they are entitled to if a mistake is made. USFA members, however, are also required to return any amounts given to them by mistake.  

Take a few moments on a regular basis to review your paycheques. To do that, log into PAWs, select “Employment Resources” from the list in the left sidebar, scroll down and select the “Pay and Time Reporting” link. From there you can access paycheques and compensation history going back as far as 2000. 

Regularly reviewing this information is important especially whenever there is some type of salary action such as:

• Receiving special increases, career development increases or negotiated salary increases.
• Becoming a Department Head or Assistant Dean. There is a monthly stipend of $1,000 for anyone appointed to one of these roles. 
• Beginning a RARP. Your salary should reflect the percentage of full time you are working during you RARP. 
• Receiving a salary top up for a 12 or 24 month RARP. If your RARP is 12 months, you are entitled to receive one-half of your fulltime salary reduction as either additional income or to support research. If your RARP is 24 months, you are entitled to receive 20% of your fulltime salary reduction as income or research support in each year of your RARP.
• Taking advantage of the Housing Assistance benefit. If you are in receipt of a salary advance to purchase your principal residence, you should see a deduction on your paycheque to pay back the advance.

It is also important to understand what are usual deductions from your salary and to keep an eye out for any new and unusual deductions. Every year members contact the USFA because of a drop in take-home pay between December and January. This drop occurs every year because Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan have annual maximum contributions that most USFA members reach before the end of the calendar year. This means more take home pay until the new calendar year when annual contributions to EI and CPP begin again. 

If you have questions about your pay, let us know in an email and someone will contact you.