Payroll & Hours Processing

Overview

Payroll and hours processing is a core operational function at TheKey, governing how caregiver and employee compensation is calculated, approved, and disbursed across multiple Canadian provinces (including Ontario, Manitoba/Winnipeg, Alberta/Calgary, and Quebec) and US locations. The process depends on accurate timesheet submission through scheduling systems — primarily ClearCare — and is managed on a semi-monthly (24 pay periods/year) or bi-weekly (26 pay periods/year) cadence depending on the region. Errors in this process directly affect employee pay, overtime liability, benefits deductions, and regulatory compliance, making it a frequent subject of internal escalation.

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Key People

• Germaine Daniels — Director of Payroll, TheKey. Primary payroll authority; oversees dispute resolution, ROE processing, and off-cycle payment decisions. (germaine.daniels@thekey.com / 562.784.1800)
• Irin Eva — Payroll operations processor; handles timesheet imports, direct deposit setup, wire transfers, and benefits premium deductions during leaves of absence.
• Lindsey Fancy — Handled Winnipeg payroll processing; involved in early overtime identification and cutoff-date issues (2022).
• Kathryn Nester — HR contact who escalates employee pay disputes, including overtime corrections.
• Sam Naffaa — Regional operations contact for Winnipeg and Oakville; coordinates payroll totals and overtime adjustments.
• Sharon Speirs — Calgary-region contact flagging caregiver overtime each pay period.
• Carolina Orosa — Involved in payroll records reconciliation, specifically missing T4s and payroll registers (2021–2023).
• Chuck Terlesky — Involved in Alberta ROE processing and overtime identification.
• Dennis Fancy — Referenced in overtime escalation thread (2025).

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Processes & Policies

Standard Payroll Cycle

• Payroll is processed based on hours submitted on an employee's timesheet in ClearCare. [Re: Anthonia Uwajeh Overtime pay — 2025-10-07 — Kathryn Nester]
• Pay periods run on a semi-monthly schedule (24 pay periods/year) or bi-weekly (26 pay periods/year), depending on region.
• The payroll workweek is defined as Monday through Sunday per the Employee Handbook.
• Quebec operations follow a documented bi-weekly pay period calendar with explicit cut-off and deposit dates (see *Période de paie 2026* for 2026 schedule).

Disbursement Methods

• Standard payment is via direct deposit.
• Off-cycle or corrective payments may be issued via wire transfer. When a wire transfer is used, HR must confirm whether a proper paystub will accompany it. [Re: Anthonia Uwajeh Overtime pay — 2025-10-07 — Kathryn Nester]
• Payroll contact email for internal requests: payrollteam@thekey.com.

Overtime Processing

• Overtime is identified per pay period, typically by regional operations leads or schedulers.
• For standard shifts: overtime rules follow provincial employment standards.
• For 24-hour shifts (Ontario): overtime is paid for hours worked in excess of 264 hours in a work month. [Ontario Client Consent Agreements]
• Overtime pay can be processed by deducting confirmed excess hours from base hours and reprocessing under an overtime pay code. [Re: Oakville Overtime — 2023-09-04 — Sam Naffaa]
• General Managers are expected to audit overtime billing to clients and flag cases where overtime hours are not being billed back. [General_Manager_Playbook]

Benefits Deductions During Leave of Absence

• Benefits premiums (Life Insurance, Dependent Life Insurance, AD&D) continue to be deducted during leaves.
• Premiums are deducted over 24 pay periods (twice monthly).
• Example: Thivyah Malanar's LOA (November 2023–November 2024) required 12 months of deductions tracked manually by Irin Eva and Kimberly Guerci. [Thivyah Malanar Leave Of Absence and Payment — 2023-10-19]

ROE Processing

• Mass Record of Employment (ROE) submissions must be processed within the individual payroll system by the last pay period in June for Alberta employees.
• Germaine Daniels and Irin Eva must be notified upon completion. [Re: Alberta employee's ROE — 2023-10-23]

Training Fee Payroll Deductions

• In certain markets (Vancouver), training fees paid upfront by the organization may be recovered via a payroll deduction agreement if the employee does not complete a minimum tenure. [Vancouver Strategic Framework — 2026]

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Timeline & Key Events

• 2022-08 — Lindsey Fancy identifies Ruth Escalante (Winnipeg) with 63.5 overtime hours in a single pay period; other caregivers including Matilda and Kaur G. also flagged with significant overtime. [Overtime — 2022-08-10]
• 2022-10 — A caregiver's pay is issued at the incorrect rate ($16/hr) after their pay rate was not entered into the system, and direct deposit missed due to cutoff date breach. [Re: Regarding my pay — 2022-10-15 — Lindsey Fancy]
• 2022-11 — Payroll system generates a duplicate paystub issue; preliminary pay period 22 contained erroneous hours that would have double-paid a caregiver if finalized. [Re: Follow-up Items — 2022-11-24/25]
• 2022-12 — Calgary: Reiselle Rampus flagged for 7 overtime hours in prior pay period. [Calgary Overtime — 2022-12-22]
• 2023-01 — LOA benefits deduction tracking initiated for Carly Burns (4 months: March–June). [Leave Of Absence and Payment — 2023-01-18]
• 2023-02 — Winnipeg payroll PP3: $62,095.81 transferred to primary payroll account; $309.40 for T4 fees. [Winnipeg payroll PP3 — 2023-02-08]
• 2023-07 — Outstanding payroll records identified: missing T4s for 2021, 2022, 2023; missing Pay Statements and Payroll Registers for 2023. Wire transfers processed for two payroll cycles due to import issues. [Re: progress update — 2023-07-12/13]
• 2023-09 — Oakville overtime adjustment processed for three employees via hours deduction method. [Re: Oakville Overtime — 2023-09-04]
• 2023-10 — Thivyah Malanar LOA initiated; 12-month benefits deduction schedule established. Alberta mass ROE process confirmed. [Multiple threads — 2023-10]
• 2024-01 — Winnipeg overtime history pulled for last 5 pay periods (Dec 2023): peak of 42.5 OT hours on Dec 4, 2023. [Re: Caregiver Overtime Winnipeg — 2024-01-16]
• 2024 (full year) — Quebec gross payroll recorded at $5,257,164.65 (RL-1 Summary, Box 50). [HCA - 2024 Training Data V4]
• 2025-10 — Anthonia Uwajeh identified as missing overtime pay from prior week due to ClearCare issue. Options: wire transfer or inclusion in next regular payroll (direct deposit on the 13th). HR instructed to confirm banking details before payroll entry. [Multiple threads — 2025-10-07 to 2025-10-21]

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Key Decisions

• Off-cycle payment protocol: When a payroll correction cannot be processed in-cycle, the preferred options are (1) wire transfer or (2) inclusion in the next regular payroll via direct deposit. Wire transfers do not automatically generate a standard paystub — HR must verify this separately. [Re: Anthonia Uwajeh Overtime pay — 2025-10-07]
• ClearCare as payroll source of truth: Hours processed in payroll must reflect what is submitted in ClearCare timesheets. Discrepancies in ClearCare are a recognized source of payroll error and require manual correction.
• Payroll deduction for training costs: Adopted in the Vancouver expansion framework as a mechanism to protect training investment from early attrition.
• Semi-monthly vs. bi-weekly cadence: Pay frequency is region-dependent (24 vs. 26 periods). Confirmed to vary by location; Quebec on documented bi-weekly schedule.

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Open Questions & Gaps

1. ClearCare reliability: The Anthonia Uwajeh case (2025-10) confirms ClearCare errors cause payroll misses. No documented escalation process or SLA for ClearCare-related payroll corrections has been surfaced.

2. Missing historical payroll records: As of July 2023, T4s for 2021–2023, pay statements, and payroll registers for 2023 were still outstanding. Resolution status is unknown.

3. Paystub generation for wire transfers: It is unclear whether the payroll system automatically generates a paystub for off-cycle wire transfer payments. This was raised as an open question by Kathryn Nester and not definitively resolved in the email record.

4. Payroll system identity: References are made to "individual payroll system" without consistent naming (ClearCare is the scheduling/timesheet system; a separate payroll platform appears to be in use but is not explicitly named).

5. Overtime billing alignment: The General Manager Playbook flags that OT hours are not always billed back to clients — the extent of this gap across regions is not documented.

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Related Topics

• Employee Benefits & Leave of Absence Administration
• ClearCare Scheduling & Timesheet Management
• Records of Employment (ROE) & Offboarding
• Overtime Management & Compliance
• Regional Operations (Winnipeg, Calgary, Oakville, Quebec)