Payday morning. Without the panic.

Schools run four staff categories in the same payroll — permanent teachers on CTC, contractual staff on annual letters, visiting faculty paid per period or per hour, daily-wage support staff. Generic corporate HR tools are built around one category and bend awkwardly for the rest. SchoolDeck applies the correct salary structure, statutory deductions, and leave rules to each category automatically in the same monthly run. Also understands academic-year cycles — June joiners, board-exam invigilation duties, summer breaks — which corporate tools don't model.

EPF — Employee 12% + Employer 12% of Basic + DA. Employer 12% splits: 8.33% to EPS (Pension), capped at ₹1,250/month on ₹15,000 wage ceiling, remaining 3.67% to EPF. EPF interest rate 8.25% for FY 2025-26. Mandatory for schools with 20+ employees. ESI — Employee 0.75% + Employer 3.25% = total 4% on gross wages, for staff earning up to ₹21,000/month gross (₹25,000 for persons with disability). Both due by 15th of following month — late payment attracts 12% interest penalty. SchoolDeck calculates both correctly and generates the monthly ECR file. Supreme Court directed Central Govt and EPFO in January 2026 to take a final decision on raising the EPF wage ceiling to ₹21,000 or ₹25,000 within four months.

HR coordinator imports raw punch data from the biometric device at month-end. SchoolDeck applies your school's rules — "3 late marks = 1 half-day", "2 half-days = 1 LOP day", tolerance windows, approved-leave overrides. Payable days per employee calculated automatically. HR reviews the reconciliation report, corrects anomalies, locks attendance. The salary computation engine takes locked attendance as input. No manual counting from paper registers, no Excel formula errors.

Yes. Configure Hourly or Per-Period salary structures for visiting faculty, guest lecturers, and temporary support staff separately from permanent staff. The system pulls actual periods taught from the timetable module when integrated, or accepts manual period entry. Pay calculated as (periods × per-period rate) plus allowances. Statutory deductions apply where eligible — visiting faculty earning above ESI threshold typically don't trigger PF/ESI, but TDS may apply on professional fees. Configurable per faculty member based on appointment terms.

PT slabs vary by state. Tamil Nadu ₹208/month above ₹21,000. Karnataka ₹200/month above ₹15,000. Maharashtra slab-based brackets. West Bengal slab-based from ₹40. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, MP, Kerala — each has its own structure. SchoolDeck applies the correct state slab automatically based on the school's registered location. For multi-branch trusts across states (e.g., Tamil Nadu trust running a Karnataka branch), each branch applies its own state's PT rules to staff registered there. Remittance to each state authority tracked separately.

Gratuity eligibility triggers after 5 continuous years of service under the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 (schools with 10+ employees). Formula: (Last drawn Basic + DA) × 15 × Years of Service ÷ 26 — i.e., 15 days' wages per completed year. Maximum statutory gratuity ₹20 lakh (tax-exempt). SchoolDeck tracks each staff member's continuous service period and alerts HR when an employee approaches the 5-year threshold so the school can budget the liability. Accrued gratuity amounts maintained in the digital service book — no surprises when someone resigns or retires after 12 years.

Yes. Payroll data protected by role-based access control. Only authorised HR personnel and principal can view salary details. Class teachers, subject teachers, non-HR admin staff cannot access the payroll module — colleagues' salaries are hidden even within the school. Audit logs record every payroll action (who ran the cycle, who approved, who edited a salary structure). DPDP Act 2023 applies to staff personal data the same way it does to student data; SchoolDeck maintains the consent and processing records expected under Section 7 lawful processing for HR purposes.

Yes. Trust networks running 3-25 schools can process payroll for all branches from one central dashboard. Each branch retains its own salary structures, statutory registrations (different EPFO and ESIC codes per branch are common), local state Professional Tax. Central HR team sees consolidated payroll outflow, branch comparison, total statutory liability. Staff transferring between branches retain complete service history — including gratuity tenure clock which doesn't reset on intra-trust transfer. Beyond 25 schools the consolidation architecture changes — discuss on demo call.

Typically 7 working days for a school of 100-300 staff. SchoolDeck onboarding team imports existing staff records (name, designation, joining date, salary structure, statutory registrations, bank details), historical leave balances, ongoing loan/advance EMI schedules, gratuity accrual tenure from your Excel files or previous payroll software. Parallel run for first month recommended — compute salary in both old and new systems, reconcile differences, then go live. Most schools complete first live payroll within first month and stop parallel run by month two.