Subject

April 2012 $500.00 Longevity Payments for Long-Term Seasonal Employees Represented by CSEA and PEF

Purpose

Affected Employees

Certain seasonal hourly employees in the Department of Environmental Conservation (09180) and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (49xxx) who meet the eligibility criteria and are in Bargaining Units 02, 03, 04 and 05 represented by CSEA and PEF.

Background

Chapter 491 of the Laws of 2011 provides for $500.00 Longevity Payments for long-term seasonal employees who meet the eligibility criteria stated below.  The Longevity Payments are effective the first pay period of the fiscal year.  If the employee is not Active in the first pay period of the fiscal year, the Longevity Payment is effective upon the employee’s return to the payroll, provided the employee returns within the fiscal year.

Effective Date(s)

Payments may be submitted for paychecks dated 5/3/12 Institution Extra Lag (09180) and 5/9/12 Administration Extra Lag (49xxx).

Contract Provisions and Eligibility
Criteria

Employees who are Active on the effective  date of payment in a BU 02, 03, 04, or 05 seasonal hourly position in Agency 48xxx or 09180 and had at least 1,500 hours in pay status as a seasonal employee in each of the previous (5) calendar years in either of these agencies are eligible for a $500.00 Longevity Payment.

For seasonal employees who are not Active on the effective date of payment but become Active in a seasonal hourly position within the fiscal year and otherwise meet the eligibility criteria stated above, the payment is effective the date of the return to the payroll.

Agency Actions

Agencies must submit the 2012 Longevity Payments for eligible employees and adjustments for overtime worked since the effective date of the payment as noted below. 

The following procedure must be used when reporting the 2012 Longevity Payment of $500.00 on the Additional Pay page:

If an employee is eligible for both the 2011 and 2012 Seasonal Longevity Payment, the agency must insert the 2011 row on the Additional Pay page before entering the 2012 row.

*The End Date field may be left blank because the system will not include the earnings in the overtime calculations for hourly employees.  Agencies must use the procedure as stated in the section below to report any adjustments to overtime.

The agency must use the following procedure when reporting the Earn Code LAO (Longevity Payment Adjustment) in the Time Entry page to adjust overtime payments for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

When the code is used, the system will determine the amount of the LAO by multiplying the number of hours reported by $.38.

If a seasonal employee has a position change or transfers into a non-season position (e.g. Pay Basis Code ANN) after the effective date of the LPS, the employee is not longer eligible for the Longevity Payment to be included in the calculation of overtime.  Therefore, the agency must insert a row on the Additional Pay page as follows:

Miscellaneous Payment
Information

The payment is pensionable and must be used in the calculation of overtime worked within the fiscal year in which it became effective, provided the employee continues to remain in a seasonal position.

Payroll Register
and Employee Paycheck/Advice

The Earnings Codes LPS and LAO will appear on the payroll register.  The earnings code descriptions, Longevity Payment Seasonal and Longevity Adjustment Overtime, will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or deposit advice.

Questions

Questions may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.