HR & Benefits Administrator in Seattle, Washington at Mary's Place Seattle

Mary’s Place provides safe and inclusive shelter and services for women, children, and families on their journey out of homelessness. We operate a women’s day center and several 24/7 family shelters throughout King County. We serve hundreds of families each year, providing a safe place to stay, nutritious meals, essential services, and access to housing and employment resources. We believe that no one’s child should sleep outside.

Valuing diversity and championing equity are core values at Mary’s Place. Mary’s Place is an equal opportunity employer with a culturally diverse work environment and a commitment to social justice.

This is a full-time, non-exempt, hybrid position. Time in office will be at our administrative offices downtown. The hourly rate is $28-$29/hr. DOE.

The HR & Benefits Administrator is a key member of the Human Resources team, providing administrative and operational support across the employee lifecycle with a specialized focus on benefits administration, payroll support, leave and accommodation management, HR compliance, employee records administration, and customer service. This position serves as an important liaison between employees, managers, HR, Payroll, and third-party benefit providers to ensure accurate and timely administration of employee programs and employment-related processes.

The HR & Benefits Administrator manages employee leaves of absence and accommodations, supports payroll and benefits administration, maintains HR records and compliance activities, and assists with recruitment, onboarding, offboarding, and employee communications. This role requires exceptional attention to detail, strong organizational skills, a high degree of confidentiality, and a commitment to providing outstanding service to employees.

The working schedule is regular business hours Monday–Friday, with flexibility to work occasional evening or weekend hours to meet business needs. Applicants must provide proof of vaccination status.

This is a non-exempt, non-supervisory, full-time position reporting to the HR Director. The pay range is $28.00–$29.00 per hour DOE. The HR & Benefits Administrator will work onsite at our administration office in downtown Seattle (The HUB), with occasional remote work flexibility upon request and approval.

Key Responsibilities

30%: HR Administration, Compliance & Employee Support

• Maintain employee personnel records and HR documentation, ensuring completeness, confidentiality, and compliance with organizational policies and applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
• Process and maintain records related to new hires, employee status changes, promotions, transfers, separations, leaves of absence, and other employment actions.
• Conduct or assist with compliance audits and reporting, including I-9 audits, EEO-1 reporting, personnel file reviews, payroll audits, and other regulatory requirements.
• Monitor and respond to HR-related inquiries through designated HR email inboxes, ensuring accurate, professional, and timely responses.
• Serve as a resource to employees by answering questions regarding HR policies, procedures, benefits, payroll, and employment practices, escalating complex matters as appropriate.
• Process employment verification requests and respond to Employment Security Department wage audits and unemployment claims.
• Coordinate and maintain workers’ compensation and industrial injury records, partnering with employees, supervisors, and the L&I Case Manager as needed.
• Assist with employee surveys, HR projects, data collection, reporting, and organizational initiatives.
• Recommend and support process improvements that enhance efficiency, compliance, employee experience, and service delivery.
• Maintain a high level of customer service, professionalism, confidentiality, and accuracy in all employee interactions.
• Participate in special projects and other HR-related duties as assigned.

25%: Leave of Absence & Accommodation Administration

• Administer employee leave and accommodation programs, including FMLA, Washington Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML), military leave, ADA accommodations, pregnancy-related accommodations, workers’ compensation-related leaves, and other protected leaves.
• Manage the full leave administration process from initial employee inquiry through return-to-work, including eligibility determination, required notices, documentation tracking, medical certifications, communication, and record maintenance.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for employees and managers regarding leave and accommodation requests, explaining available options, organizational policies, and applicable legal protections.
• Maintain accurate leave records and tracking systems to ensure compliance with federal, state, and organizational requirements.
• Coordinate leave impacts with payroll and benefits administration, including benefit continuation, premium payments, timesheet reporting, and payroll deductions.
• Partner with employees, managers, payroll, and benefit vendors to facilitate smooth leave transitions and successful return-to-work processes.
• Ensure leave and accommodation forms, resources, and processes remain current, compliant, and accessible to employees and managers.

35%: Payroll & Benefits Administration

• Support payroll administration by maintaining employee information within Paylocity, including new hires, status changes, compensation changes, benefits updates, leaves, and terminations.
• Create and maintain employee records in HRIS, payroll, benefits, and related systems to ensure data accuracy and consistency across platforms.
• Process payroll-related employee changes and ensure supporting documentation is accurate, complete, and submitted in accordance with payroll deadlines.
• Support onboarding and offboarding activities related to payroll and benefits, including benefit enrollments, COBRA administration, retirement plans, flexible spending accounts, and insurance terminations.
• Manage benefit eligibility, enrollments, qualifying life event changes, terminations, and benefit vendor communications.
• Monitor benefit enrollment timelines and ensure accurate integration of benefit elections and payroll deductions within organizational systems.
• Assist employees with benefit-related questions and serve as a liaison between staff and benefit providers when appropriate.
• Support the annual open enrollment process, including employee communications, system updates, enrollment tracking, and verification of payroll deduction accuracy.
• Maintain payroll and benefits processing checklists and coordinate data entry into financial and accounting systems to ensure accuracy and proper reporting.
• Assist with payroll audits, benefit reconciliations, and reporting activities to ensure compliance and data integrity.
• Administer the employee ORCA Card benefit program, including card issuance, payroll deductions, fee adjustments, account maintenance, vendor coordination, quarterly reconciliations, and annual contract support.
• Partner with Payroll, Finance, HR leadership, and external vendors to resolve payroll and benefits issues in a timely and effective manner.

10%: Recruitment & Onboarding Support

• Support recruitment and hiring activities, including job offers, internal hiring, background checks, adverse action processes, reference checks, and pre-employment documentation.
• Assist with onboarding coordination to ensure a positive and compliant new hire experience.
• Prepare and process hiring documentation and employee records associated with onboarding and orientation activities.
• Support employee transitions, including separation documentation and offboarding processes.
• Assist with training administration and other talent-related initiatives as needed, including New Hire Orientation.

Other Duties

Perform other related duties and special projects as assigned in support of the Human Resources, Payroll, and Benefits functions.

Qualifications/Skills/Experience

· Bachelor’s degree or higher in Human Resources or related field; HR certification strongly preferred (PHR or SHRM-CP)

· 1-2 years of relevant experience with systems in ACA, COBRA, & Medical/Dental, 401k/403b plans, FSA/HSA.

· Knowledge and experience in the open enrollment process.

· 2 years of relevant Human Resources experience including Leave and Accommodations management, support for recruiting (interviewing, background and reference checks, onboarding), policy interpretation and application, and skilled HR admin support

· Superior organizational and time-management abilities; able to prioritize as well as manage a continuous stream of details

· Working knowledge of employment law on a local, state and federal level

· Working knowledge of the ADA, federal and state leave and disability accommodation regulations and best practices

· Preferred but not required: knowledge of and experience with OSHA and EEOC reporting requirements

· Track record of providing excellent customer service in the HR field, with focus on working with staff and management to resolve accommodations and leave issues

· Strong business and HR acumen, including problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and analysis

· Research skills to use available resources to identify and understand the latest laws and regulations in employment related topics including accommodation, leaves, and record-keeping

· Clear desire to embrace and align with Mary’s Place’s mission of empowering women, children and families experiencing homelessness to reclaim their lives

· Strong communication skills, including the ability to listen and connect with people; excellent spoken and written English

· Prior non-profit experience a plus

· Able to manage a busy workflow with minimal oversight in a fast-paced, lean environment with multiple and often-changing priorities

· Experience dealing with ambiguity and moving quickly to solutions

· Excellent Microsoft Office skills including SharePoint, Teams, Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint

· Experience with HRIS, LMS, ATS platforms desired (we use Paylocity for all HR, Payroll and Time functions)

Physical Requirements

· The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

· While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear; to converse with and listen to people in many different settings

· The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle, or feel, type, and reach with hands and arms; and requires the ability to occasionally push, pull, lift and/or carry supplies up to 25 pounds.

· Work takes place in a social services environment where long periods of sitting, working on a computer, walking to various work areas, going up and down stairs, and standing are required.

· Travel to program sites and meetings outside the office and around the county are necessary.

· Efforts like attention to detail, interacting with others in-person and through email, using critical thinking skills to strategize, develop and implement business plans, create and edit documents, listen and participate verbally at meetings.

· Ability to work in an environment where there may be animals present, including dogs

Other Details

Mary's Place offers the following benefits to full-time staff:

· Medical and dental insurance with the cost for core employee coverage paid at 100% by the company and competitive family rates

· Basic Life Insurance of $50,000 at no cost to employee; option to buy up for additional coverage

· 403(b) plan with a 50% employer match on the first 6% employee contribution

· Unlimited use ORCA pass for a small deduction per pay period

· 10 days paid time off (PTO) each calendar year (accrued by pay period)

· 10 days of sick time each calendar year (accrued by pay period)

· 10 days of flexible floating holidays each calendar year (accrued 40 hours on January 1st and 40 hours on July 1st). Prorated based on date of hire for first year of employment.

· Employee Assistance Program

Mary’s Place is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value a diverse workplace and strongly encourage women, people of color and other underrepresented groups, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

How to Apply

Applications accepted until the position is filled.