NYS Comptroller Seal  

Bureau of State Payroll Services

Date: April 6, 2000

 Bulletin No. UCS-24

Subject April 2000 Payment of Longevity Bonuses, Service and Longevity Increments
Purpose To explain OSC’s automatic payments and provide agencies with instructions for payments not processed automatically
Affected Employees Eligible Employees in the Unified Court System (UCS)
Effective Date 3/30/2000 (Pay period 1-Lag), check date 04/26/2000
Increment & Longevity Eligibility General rules are described in the Salary Manual for the Unified Court System, Part 1 Pages 11-12
Longevity Bonus Eligibility Employees represented in all bargaining units are entitled to a longevity bonus if their service date falls in one of these categories:

20-24 years service in UCS (Service Date 3/31/1976-80) $ 750

25-29 years service in UCS (Service Date 3/31/1971-75)$1000

30+ years service in UCS (Service Date 3/31/1943-70)   $1200

Employees in Bargaining Units SY, SR, SG, F8, G9, DR are entitled to receive a longevity bonus payment of $1500 if they have 20 or more years of continuous service in their current position in the UCS and their salary is at or above the Longevity Step of the position. These employees are identified by the Service Date 3/31/1930.

Employees in Bargaining Unit S9 are entitled to receive a longevity bonus payment of $1500 if they have 20 or more years of continuous service in the UCS, 15 of which must be continuous in bargaining unit S9. These employees are identified by the Service Date 3/31/1930.

The Longevity Bonus payment is prorated for the employees who, at the time of payment, work less than full time. The Longevity Bonus payment is used in the calculation of overtime for the next fiscal year (March 30, 2000 through March 28, 2001).

OSC Actions After all Job Requests have been approved for period 1, OSC will:

1. Automatically insert the increment row in Job Data for eligible employees, including employees on Workers’ Comp Leave, from the October 1, 1998 salary schedule, based on the increment code in the record. The definitions for the UCS increment codes are attached.
The Action/Reason of Pay Rate Change/Increment (INC) or Long Pay (LGP) will be used.

2. Update the Additional Pay Panel with the earn code JLO for employees eligible to receive the Longevity Bonus.

3. If applicable, correct the salary rate on Job Data rows entered by the agency that have an effective date later than 3/30/2000.

Listings After OSC completes the audit for Pay Period 26, OSC will produce the following list:

Employees whose Position number and NYS Position number are the same and where Job Data does not match Position Data. The data fields that may not match are job code, bargaining unit, sal admin plan and grade.

After pay period 1 is processed, OSC will produce the following lists:

1. Employees who received the increment or longevity increment automatically
2. Employees who received the Longevity Bonus
3. Employees who did not receive an automatic payment (i.e. increment code missing, FIS missing, FIS below current, sal below minimum)

A copy of each listing will be sent to the agencies.

Agency Actions For Period 1 For employees whose Position number and NYS Position number are the same and where Job Data does not match Position Data, no automatic updates will be done. If the employee is eligible for a service increment or longevity increment, the agency must request a Pay Rate Change on the Job Action Request Panel, using the appropriate reason code.

For Position or Pay Change requests resulting in a change in annual salary effective on or before 3/30/2000, agencies should NOT include the Increment or Longevity payments in the requested salary. The Increment code entered should be the "current" Increment Code for 2000. OSC will automatically apply the April 2000 increment, if applicable. 

For Position or Pay Change requests resulting in a change in annual salary effective AFTER 3/30/2000, agencies must include the increment payment, if applicable, in the requested salary and enter the projected increment code for the year 2001.

Agency Actions After Period 1 To process a service increment or longevity increment for an employee after Period 1L, submit the transaction in the Job Request Panel with an action of Pay Rate Change and a reason of Increment (INC) or Long Pay (LGP). It is not necessary to submit an adjustment transaction, because the retroactive adjustment will be calculated automatically based on the effective date.

To process a Longevity Bonus for an employee who did not receive an automatic payment, process the transaction through the Additional Pay Panel. 

Earnings Code JLO
Effective Date *3/30/00
OT Effective Date Same as Effective Date
Annual Additional Earnings Payment Amount
Earnings End Date 03/28/01

* If an employee was eligible and on the payroll 03/30/00, enter 03/30/00. If an employee was off the payroll and did not receive an automatic payment, enter the "return to payroll date".

Time Entry To report earnings in the Time Entry Panel (e.g: overtime), it is necessary to enter multiple rows if the earnings dates overlap the effective date of the increment. The first row must be inserted with the inclusive dates prior to 3/30/2000. The second row must be inserted with the inclusive dates equal to and after 3/30/2000.
Questions Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Salary Determinations mailbox.
UCS Increment Codes