be on the/(someone's or something's) payroll

To be employed by a person or company and thus receive a wage or salary from them. No, we have no records of him ever being on our payroll. Are you sure he said he used to work for us? You're going to have to answer a lot of questions now that people know you were on the payroll of a company that tests its products on animals. I was never on Atlas Inc.'s payroll, I only worked with them as a representative of InsuraLife, which handles their pension plans.