Payroll and Benefits Specialist

Hopdov is an HR Consulting Firm specializing in the hospitality industry. We offer comprehensive HR services, spanning the entire employee life cycle, from onboarding to offboarding. Hopdov provides advice and direct support on employee relations and workplace concerns, paired with proactive and progressive-based HR project work focused on strong processes and systems that are essential for a solid HR foundation as well as business growth. Hopdov specializes in compliance and provides hands‑on HR support to owners and business operators in New England and beyond. We believe HR work should encompass both a progressive project-based approach, as well as the ability to respond immediately to issues as they arise.

Position Overview The Payroll and Benefits Specialist serves as a compliance-focused advisor to Hopdov’s hospitality clients on their payroll, tip, and benefits practices. The Specialist audits and evaluates client payroll for compliance with wage and hour requirements, recommends corrective action to client ownership and management, and designs and implements systems and processes that streamline client payroll and benefits operations. The Specialist also manages administration of payroll and benefits, and manages Hopdov’s client relationships for payroll and benefits services.In addition, the Specialist handles a variety of other HR matters across a portfolio of clients. This role requires the exercise of independent judgment in evaluating client pay practices, determining compliance risk, and recommending solutions, as well as exceptional attention to detail and the ability to maintain confidentiality. The ideal candidate thrives in a fast‑paced environment and is efficient, thorough, and highly responsive.

The Specialist must be a motivated self‑starter with experience auditing pay practices, processing payroll, administering benefits, and working with a variety of payroll software systems. The individual in this role must be highly organized, responsive, and act with a sense of urgency.

Duties and Responsibilities Compliance Audit & Advisory Responsibilities

Audit and evaluate client payroll for compliance with federal and Massachusetts wage and hour requirements, including tip pooling and distribution, tip credit, minimum wage, overtime, reporting time, and earned sick time; determine whether client practices are compliant; and recommend corrective action and remediation to client ownership and management

Advise client owners and managers on how wage and hour, tip, benefits, and ACA requirements apply to their specific operations

Process Improvement Responsibilities

Evaluate client payroll, timekeeping, tip reporting, and benefits workflows to identify inefficiencies, sources of error, and compliance risk points

Design and implement systems, processes, workflows, and controls that streamline client payroll and benefits processes, and recommend system and workflow changes to ownership

Lead client payroll and HRIS implementations, guiding selection and configuration of payroll, timekeeping, and benefit systems and integrations to fit each client’s operations

Client Relationship Responsibilities

Manage client relationships for Hopdov’s payroll and benefits services, serving as the primary point of contact for client owners and management

Assess each client’s payroll and benefits needs and recommend service changes, process changes, or additional Hopdov support

Resolve escalated payroll and benefits issues with clients, carriers, and vendors

Payroll Administration Responsibilities

Review employee onboarding documents for accuracy and completion

Review and validate employee data and set up new hires in a variety of payroll software systems, accounting for employee demographics, compensation, job/position, tax set‑up and other important categories

Receive and review payroll data, including hours, tips, sick time, and vacation time, from restaurant teams for weekly or bi‑weekly processing

Ensure that all data, such as regular hours, overtime hours and tip data, is entered correctly

Set up necessary deductions for employees, such as medical, dental and vision benefits

Set up 401(k) and Roth 401(k) deferrals in payroll software

Receive and review documents, such as wage garnishments, child support withholding orders, and tax levies, and process them in compliance with applicable legal requirements and in accordance with payroll software utilized

Apply vacation and sick time policies to employee profiles in payroll software and handle balance inquiries and adjustments as needed

Resolve employee and managerial questions about payroll, such as direct deposit, compensation, data accuracy and others

Coordinate with bookkeeping and accounting teams regarding tax filing, payroll reporting and other needs

Process off‑cycle payrolls as needed, including pay corrections, missed payments, and final paychecks, ensuring timely and accurate disbursement in compliance with final pay requirements

Process bonus payrolls for clients, coordinating bonus amounts with ownership and management and ensuring correct tax withholding and payroll coding

Review and reconcile payroll registers before and after each payroll run, verifying hours, rates, deductions, and tip data for accuracy prior to submission and confirming final totals post‑processing

Maintain payroll, employee, and HR records in accordance with applicable federal and state record retention requirements, including but not limited to I‑9s, payroll and timekeeping documents, and tax filings

Review and understand medical, dental and vision benefit programs, across multiple clients, correctly understanding benefit details such as deductibles, out of pocket max amounts and overall benefit structure

Manage annual Open Enrollments for clients, distributing benefit materials to eligible employees, receiving new enrollments, changes and cancellations and processing them in the correct portals

Apply Open Enrollment results to payroll software, correctly noting enrollments, waivers, and deductions for payroll purposes

Manage ongoing Offers of Coverage throughout the year, providing health insurance information to eligible employees and processing enrollment forms in the correct portals

Track new hire and ongoing benefits eligibility across clients, manage ACA measurement and waiting periods, and maintain waiver documentation

Manage year‑end ACA reporting using each client’s software or process, ensuring 1095‑C forms have correct codes and cost of coverage and 1094‑C/1095‑C forms are filed with the IRS

Manage 401(k) administration across multiple clients. Review payroll reporting for 401(k) eligibility, enroll eligible employees in applicable 401(k) software, and set up correct deferrals in payroll

Complete 401(k) transfers for clients as needed

Terminate benefits for employees in benefit portals to reflect termination dates

Draft COBRA notices, as needed, and work within various COBRA software systems utilized by clients to process benefit terminations

Administer HSA, FSA and HRA programs, as needed

Reconcile monthly benefit carrier invoices against enrolled employees in payroll and benefit portals, and identify and resolve discrepancies in a timely manner to ensure accurate billing

HR Advisory and Administrative Responsibilities

Draft and produce compliant and recommended employee onboarding documents for clients to use in their onboarding process

Draft offer letters, job descriptions, job posts, employment verification and other requested letters, and handle various other HR requests supporting the employee experience

Advise clients on improving employee onboarding and training processes

Advise and assist clients with employee relations concerns including complaints, coaching, counseling, and discipline, including drafting written documentation and maintaining it in the employee personnel file

Process First Reports of Injury for Worker’s Compensation Claims and correctly note on OSHA log, if needed

Post job postings to Indeed and other recruiting software as needed

Lead client HR projects that drive forward HR excellence

Other Responsibilities as Assigned. Job Requirements Technical Skills

Experience using ADP, Toast Payroll, Paylocity and Gusto software systems

Experience using benefit enrollment portals, such as Blues Enrolls and UHC e‑services

Strong computer skills, including Office 365, G‑Suite & other applicable software systems

Interest in learning and using other payroll and HRIS systems

Experience

Experience processing payroll for hourly employees with fluctuating hours and frequent onboarding and offboarding, preferably in a restaurant or hospitality environment

Strong knowledge of benefit administration and ACA compliance, including benefit structure, eligibility, processing, and year‑end reporting

Proficiency in Federal and Massachusetts wage and hour law, including the Massachusetts Tips Act, tip credit, overtime, reporting time, earned sick time, and final pay requirements

Experience auditing and evaluating payroll and pay practices for inefficiencies, sources of errors, and compliance risks

Experience designing and implementing systems and processes that streamline and improve payroll and benefit operations

Experience in implementing and configuring payroll, timekeeping, and benefit system settings and integrations

Soft Skills

Strong interpersonal skills, intuitive hospitality, and polished written and verbal communication skills

Ability to lead and manage client relationships

Ability to present findings and recommendations to business owners and management

Ability to effectively manage time and work efficiently

Ability to exercise independent judgment and work with a large degree of autonomy

Highest level attention to detail and strong organizational skills

Highly responsive, proactive, and acts with sense of urgency

This position is primarily remote with occasional in‑person presence required at client sites and team meetings.

Hopdov is an equal opportunity employer.

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