Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-160

Subject
April 2010 General Salary and Location Pay Increases for Employees in the Unified Court System (UCS)
Date Issued
March 24, 2010

Purpose

To notify Unified Court System agencies of the April 2010 Salary and Location Pay Increases, to explain OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Represented non-judicial employees in Bargaining Units SA, SR, SN, G9, F8, DR, SG, SK, SD, SY, S9 and 87 and unrepresented non-judicial employees in Bargaining Units CT, 86, and 88

Background

Chapter 276 of the Laws of 2008 implements agreements between the State of New York and various bargaining units in the Unified Court System and provides for General Salary and Location Pay Increases for non-judicial employees.

Effective Date(s)

4/1/10, Pay Period 1L - Paychecks dated April 28, 2010

Contract Provisions and Eligibility Criteria

April 2010 General Salary Increase

The legislation provides for a 4% Salary Increase for hourly and salaried employees in graded and NS grade 560 positions unless the UCS Administrative Board determines part or all of the increase will be withheld from certain unrepresented employees.

  • Effective 4/1/10.
  • April 1, 2010 Salary Schedule attached.
  • Annual employees receive a 4% Salary Increase (rounded up to the next dollar) or $1,025, whichever is greater. (Employees must be Active or on an approved Leave on the incumbency date of 4/1/10 to be eligible for the $1,025 minimum.)
  • Hourly employees receive a 4% Salary Increase, rounded up to the next cent or $.56, whichever is greater. (Employees must be Active or on an approved Leave on the incumbency date of 4/1/10 to be eligible for the $.56 minimum.)
Salary Deferral

Chapter 276 of the Laws of 2008 calls for a salary deferral of any increases to salaries in excess of $115,000 for all employees until a law is passed to increase the salary of Supreme Court Justices to a rate greater than $136,700 or March 31, 2011, whichever comes first. Employees who hold a salary above $115,000 prior to the processing of the 2010 raise authorized by this law will retain their salary achieved prior to the raise processing. Employees whose salary is increased to greater than $115,000 by the raise processing will have their salary deferred to $115,000.

Location Pay Increases

Effective April 1, 2010, Location Pay (LOC) for employees in NYC, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties is increased to $3,697. Effective April 1, 2010 Location Pay Mid-Hudson (LMH) for employees in Orange, Dutchess and Putnam counties is increased to $1,848. The Location Pay for Monroe County remains at $200.

OSC Actions

OSC will automatically insert rows in the Job Data page to reflect the April 2010 4% or guaranteed minimum Salary Increases for all hourly represented employees and for all annual employees in represented and unrepresented bargaining units except for employees in Agency 05680. Agencies are required to submit the increases for eligible hourly unrepresented employees as noted below in Agency Actions. These increases will be processed in the following manner for employees who meet the above eligibility criteria:

  • Effective 4/1/10, for employees who have a status of Active, Paid Leave (except those with a Reason of MLS - Military Stipend), or Leave of Absence with a Reason of WDL (Workers’ Compensation Leave), OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job record using the Action/Reason code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase).
    • Employees who are on step will remain on step unless the employee receives the guaranteed minimum increase.
    • Step to step movement or the percentage increase will be applied to employees who do not meet the incumbency eligibility stated above.
  • OSC will update all subsequent Job Data rows, provided the employee is in an eligible bargaining unit, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).
  • For employees who are on a Leave of Absence (except Workers’ Compensation Leave - WDL) on 4/1/10, the increase will be applied to the employee’s Job Data record only if the employee is returned to the payroll in an eligible bargaining unit. Rows will be inserted as of the effective date of the Rein Leave using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) with the new salary,
  • Exception: The Salary Increase will not be applied to any Job row in which the employee is receiving less than the minimum salary rate on the April 1, 2009 Salary Schedule or if the information on the employee’s Job record is different from the information contained on the Position Data record, using the position information for the number stated in the NYS position field on the employee’s Job record.
Salary Deferral

OSC will insert a row with the Reason code CSD (Courts Salary Deferral) which will be used to identify PAY rows where an employee’s salary has been held at the current rate or reduced due to the Salary Deferral legislation. A CSD row will be inserted as follows:

  • If an employee holds a salary of $115,000 or greater prior to 4/1/10, OSC will process the raise row, and insert a new row for the same date with the next available sequence number using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD, and reduce the salary back to the salary achieved prior to the 4/1/10 raise effective date. All subsequent rows will be updated accordingly.
  • If the salary on an inserted row exceeds $115,000 as a result of the raise processing, OSC will insert a new row for the same date with the next sequence number using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD, and reduce the salary to $115,000. All subsequent rows will be updated in the same manner.
Location Pay

OSC will automatically insert a row to increase eligible employees’ Location Pay (LOC) on the Additional Pay page to $3,697 for all rows effective 4/1/10 and later.

Mid-Hudson Location Pay

OSC will automatically insert a row to increase eligible employees’ Location Pay Mid-Hudson (LMH) on the Additional Pay page to $1,848 for all rows effective 4/1/10 and later.

Agency Actions

Salaried Employees

The following procedures must be used by the agency when reporting transactions in Pay Period 1L: For Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers with an effective date before 4/1/10:

  • The agency must not include the 2010 Service Increment, Longevity Payment, or 4% Salary Increase in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
  • The agency must report the proper increment code for April 2010.

For Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers with an effective date on or after 4/1/10:

  • For Position Changes and Transfers with an effective date on or after 4/1/10, no automatic processing will be done by OSC provided the agency reports increment code 5555. The agency must include any applicable 2010 Service Increment, Longevity Pay and Salary Increase in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
  • For Pay Changes with an effective on or after 4/1/10, the agency must include, if applicable, the 2010 Service Increment or Longevity Pay in the salary reported in the Pay Rate Field. The agency must report the projected increment code for April 2011. OSC will automatically update these rows with the 4% Salary Increase.

In addition, if an employee holds a salary greater than $115,000 or attains a salary greater than $115,000 with the processing of the Service Increment, Longevity Pay or Salary Increase, the agency must also submit a transaction using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD and reduce the salary.

Hourly Employees

Agencies must submit the increases for all eligible hourly unrepresented non-judicial employees in Bargaining Units CT, 86, and 88 in Pay Period 1L.

Agency 05680

The agency must submit General Salary Increases for eligible employees in Agency 05680 in Pay Period 2C and submit the CSD transaction as appropriate by the payroll cutoff date.

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This Control-D report will be issued prior to the automatic processing. Agencies must review employees who appear on this report and reconcile the employee’s Job and/or Position information so that automatic processing can occur. If Job and Position are to remain mismatched, a Pay Change must be submitted to increase the employee’s salary.

Control-D Reports

The following Control-D report is available prior to processing of the automatic salary increases.

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report identifies employees who will not receive an automatic General Salary Increase. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage and Salary. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

  • Salary Below Hiring Rate
  • Position and Job do not match

The following Control-D reports will be available after the processing of the automatic increases and the review of additional Job Request transactions have been completed:

NHRP703 Mass Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees receiving an automatic increase for Location Pay (LOC) or Location Pay Mid-Hudson (LMH). Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Salary Plan, Bargaining Unit, Part-time Percentage and Additional Pay Amount. NHRP704 Mass Salary Increase Report

This report identifies all employees who received the General Salary Increase. The report identifies the employee’s last salary that was automatically increased in an eligible bargaining unit. Other fields on the report include the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Effdt, Eff Sequence, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason, Increment Code, and Old and New Comp Rate.

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report identifies employees who did not receive an automatic General Salary Increase. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage and FTA Salary. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

  • Salary Below Hiring Rate
  • Position and Job do not match

Questions

Questions about processing transactions may be directed to the Non-Executive Audit mailbox.