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HR Payroll and Benefits Specialist

New York Studio and Red Hook Production

HR PAYROLL AND BENEFITS SPECIALIST

APPARATUS is a New York-based designer and manufacturer of a distinctive catalog of high-end, high-touch lighting, furniture and objects. We produce both in-house and with the support of high-quality external partners; our catalog is sold globally. 

We’re looking for an enthusiastic Human Resources Payroll and Benefits Specialist that has experience with multi-state employment and a mix of an exempt / non-exempt employee population. 

The successful candidate will bring best practices, understand the administrative intricacies of payroll, and will serve as the main liaison between employees and our PEO for all benefits matters. This role will be an in-person position that requires the candidate to rotate working between our Manhattan studio and Brooklyn factory. 

PAYROLL DEPARTMENT

  • Managing weekly and semi-monthly disbursement of payroll for more than 100 employees, including garnishments and taxes consistent with federal and state wage and hour laws; primarily in New York State and California. There is a monthly payroll for a small team in London that will also need to be managed.
  • Managing payroll operations related to employee compensation, including sales commissions, bonuses and PTO, for exempt and non-exempt workers.
  • Ensuring payroll information and records are maintained in accordance with statutory requirements.
  • Delivering out-of-cycle/ad hoc payments to employees and facilitating the production of manual checks or wire transfers to bank accounts as necessary.
  • Overseeing the processing of unemployment, worker’s compensation and employee leave requests.
  • Resolving payroll discrepancies, processing weekly and semi-monthly adjustments, and answering employee pay inquiries.
  • Reviewing timesheets and entering weekly and semi-monthly payroll, including reconciling weekly, quarterly and annual payroll reports as required.
  • Working with our PEO to ensure on-time delivery of annual W-2's and 1099-NEC’s.
  • Ensure systems are updated to reflect current employee base (including wages, sick and vacation time) in line with current policies.
  • Work with HR on an ongoing basis to assure complete coordination of pay, benefits, and deductions.
  • Maintaining documentation of payroll procedures to improve efficiency and accuracy.
  • Assisting in documentation for internal and external audits.
  • Managing the accurate processing of staff appointments, transfers, promotions and terminations.

BENEFITS DEPARTMENT

  • Liaising with our PEO, Prestige, for the administration of benefits and retirement programs, including dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, and our 401(k) plan.
  • Liaising with Cigna, our medical benefits provider, to ensure that all employee medical elections and deductions are accurate.
  • Serving as the main point of contact for employee support with benefits administration.
  • Analyzing annual open enrollment options, assessing benefit costs and making requisite change recommendations.
  • Being a key member of our transition team when we ultimately separate from our PEO and move all our benefits function in-house.

OTHER HUMAN RESOURCES DUTIES

  • Assist with other new employee on-boarding and off-boarding tasks as needed.
  • Assist with recruitment as needed.
  • Assist with ad hoc Human Resources-related projects as needed.

SKILLS

  • Ability to identify inefficiencies, gather data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions.
  • Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
  • Detail-oriented and organized.
  • Solutions-based thinker with a consistently positive attitude, displayed both as an individual and within a collaborative team of peers, managers, directors and VPs.
  • Excellent time-management skills, independent drive and the ability to work under pressure to deliver projects under tight deadlines.
  • Ability to respond professionally to critical feedback and proactively in seeking support and help when needed.

EXPERIENCE

  • Minimum of 5 years relevant professional experience.
  • Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business or related field.
  • Obtained Certified Payroll Specialist, CPS, certificate (or willing to obtain with our support).
  • In-depth knowledge and experience of payroll calculation and processing.
  • Familiarity with payroll software functionality.
  • Full knowledge of current Federal, State and local labor laws, tax requirements and payroll regulations.
  • Experience migrating payroll from one system to another is a plus.
  • Experience working in a professional services or consulting environment is preferred.

WORK SCHEDULE

  • Full-time in-person hours: Monday–Friday generally 9:00AM–5:00PM.
  • Longer hours and weekend availability as needed.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND CHECK-INS SCHEDULE

  • Weekly 1:1s.
  • Annual performance review.

This is a full-time, in-person position with competitive compensation and benefits. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.

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When you apply to a job on this site, the personal data contained in your application will be collected by APPARATUS LLC (“Controller”), which is located at 124 West 30th Street NY, NY 10001 and can be contacted by emailing info@apparatusstudio.com.

Controller’s data protection officer is Rebecca Daly, who can be contacted at rebecca.daly@apparatusstudio.com. Your personal data will be processed for the purposes of managing Controller’s recruitment related activities, which include setting up and conducting interviews and tests for applicants, evaluating and assessing the results thereto, and as is otherwise needed in the recruitment and hiring processes. Such processing is legally permissible under Art. 6(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) as necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the Controller, which are the solicitation, evaluation, and selection of applicants for employment.

Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., a cloud services provider located in the United States of America and engaged by Controller to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on Controller’s behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, your personal data will be transferred to the United States once you submit it through this site. Because the European Union Commission has determined that United States data privacy laws do not ensure an adequate level of protection for personal data collected from EU data subjects, the transfer will be subject to appropriate additional safeguards under [either the standard contractual clauses or the Privacy Shield]. You can obtain a copy of the standard contractual clauses by contacting us at rebecca.daly@apparatusstudio.com. 

Your personal data will be retained by Controller as long as Controller determines it is necessary to evaluate your application for employment. Under the GDPR, you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted. You also have to right to data portability. In addition, you may lodge a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.

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APPARATUS ("Company", "we" or "us") has issued this California Privacy Notice to describe how we handle Personal Information that we collect and process about job applicants who are residents of California (collectively referred to as "you") applying for a job at or working for APPARATUS.

We respect the privacy rights of individuals and are committed to handling Personal Information responsibly and in accordance with applicable law. This Notice sets out the Personal Information that we collect and process about you, the purposes of the processing and the rights that you have in connection with it. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, including the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 and any regulations promulgated thereunder (“CCPA”), provides California residents with specific rights regarding their Information. This Notice, which applies only to California residents, describes your rights under the CCPA, explains how you may exercise your rights, and provides an overview on the types of Personal Information we collect.

When appropriate we will provide a “just in time” notice or notice at collection to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this document.

If you have any comments or questions about this Notice, please contact us at hr@apparatusstudio.com

The CCPA defines “Personal Information” as information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, or is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Data that has been de-identified, anonymized, or aggregated, or that otherwise cannot reasonably be related back to a specific person, is not considered Personal Information.

When making an application for employment or engagement with Company, we may process Personal Information about you and your dependents, beneficiaries and other individuals whose Personal Information has been provided to us.

The types of Personal Information we may process include, but are not limited to:  

  • Identification data – such as your name, gender, photograph, date of birth, Staff Member IDs.
  • Contact details – such as home and business address, telephone/email addresses, emergency contact details.
  • Employment details – such as job title/position, office location, employment contract, performance and disciplinary records, grievance procedures, sickness/time-off records.
  • Background information – such as academic/professional qualifications, education, CV/résumé, criminal records data (for vetting purposes, where permissible and in accordance with applicable law).

 

We may also process Sensitive Personal Information relating to you. The CCPA’s definition of Sensitive Personal information includes social security, driver’s license, state ID, or passport number; racial or ethnic origin; union membership; biometric information; and personal information concerning health, or sexual orientation ("Sensitive Personal Information"). We do not sell Sensitive Personal Information collected under this Notice.

If you are applying for a role at Company, then we collect and use your Personal Information primarily for recruitment purposes – in particular, to determine your qualifications for employment or engagement as an independent contractor and to reach a hiring decision. This includes assessing your skills, qualifications and background for a particular role, verifying your information, carrying our reference checks or background checks (where applicable) and to generally managing the hiring process and communicating with you about it.

If you are accepted for a role at Company, the information collected during the recruitment process may form part of your ongoing Staff Member record.

If you are not successful, we may still keep your application for internal reporting and to allow us to consider you for other suitable openings within Company in the future.