Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-52

Subject
April 2002 General Salary Increase, Longevity Bonus, Service Increments, Longevity Pay, and Location Pay Increase for Employees in the Unified Court System
Date Issued
March 28, 2002

Purpose

To explain OSC's automatic processing and provide agencies with instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Eligible employees in the following bargaining units:

SR S8 G9 87
SY SA DR CT
SN S9 F8 86
SG SD SK 88

Effective Date

03/28/2002, check date 04/24/2002

Background

Chapter 69, as amended by Chapters 70 and 71 of the Laws of 2000, implements agreements between the State and various bargaining units in the Unified Court System and provides for general salary increases and other payments.

Contract Provisions and Eligibility Criteria

April 1, 2002 Increments and Salary Increase
  • Application of increment amounts from April 1, 2001 Salary Schedule
  • 3% salary increase, rounded to the next dollar ($900 minimum increase), for salaried employees in graded or NS grade 560 positions
  • 3% salary increase, rounded to the next cent ($.50 minimum increase), for hourly employees
  • Payable March 28, 2002 April 1, 2002 Salary Schedule is attached.
Additional Information Regarding NS Grade 560 Unrepresented Employees
  • NS 560 unrepresented employees in bargaining units 86, 88, and CT require the approval of the UCS Administrative Board.
  • Approved salary rates will be provided by UCS to payroll agencies.
Location Pay
  • Effective April 1, 2002, payable March 28, 2002, location pay will be increased to $1200 for employees in NYC, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties;
  • Monroe County remains at $200

Service and Longevity Increments Eligibility

General rules are described in the Salary Manual for the Unified Court System, Part 1, pages 11-12.

Longevity Bonus Eligibility

Employees of the Unified Court System who, as of April 1 2002, have at least twenty years of continuous service in the Unified Court System and have a final rating of other than unsatisfactory, shall receive a bonus payment of $1500.

  • The amount of the Longevity Bonus is prorated based on the employee's part time percentage on April 1, 2002.
  • The amount of the Longevity Bonus is included in the calculation of overtime and is pensionable.

OSC Actions

After processing for pay period 2C/1L is complete, OSC will process Increments, Longevity Pay, and Salary Increases for eligible salaried and hourly employees whose status is Active, on Paid Leave of Absence (except those on military stipend) or on Workers' Compensation Leave (WDL) effective 3/28/02.

For employees receiving automatic increases effective 3/28/02 that have rows on the Job Data record with an effective date after 3/28/02, OSC will manually update the salary rate on each subsequent row.

Exception: Pay Changes, Position Changes, and Transfer actions will not be updated by OSC.

County Clerks in department 05680

Increases for the county clerks will be automatically applied in pay period 2C. Therefore, in period 2C, they will receive an automatic retroactive adjustment for the period 3/28/02 through 4/10/02 (pay period 1C).

Increment (Increment Code 0001)

Effective 3/28/02, for employees who are entitled to an increment based on the 4/01/01 Salary Schedule:

  • OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee's Job Data panel effective 3/28/02 to reflect the increment using the Action of Pay Rt Chg (Pay Rate Change) and the Reason of INC (Increment).
Increment (Increment Code 0004)

Effective 3/28/02, for employees who are entitled to a revised salary (one grade promotion) based on their FIS salary:

  • OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee's Job Data panel effective 3/28/02 to reflect the FIS salary amount on the Job Data 3 Panel using the Action of Pay Rt Chg (Pay Rate Change) and the Reason of CSL (Cor Sal).
Increment (Increment Code 0006)

Effective 3/28/02, for employees who are entitled to an increment based on their FIS salary:

  • OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee's Job Data panel effective 3/28/02 to reflect the FIS salary amount on the Job Data 3 Panel using the Action of Pay Rt Chg (Pay Rate Change) and the Reason of INC (Increment).
Longevity Pay (Increment Code 1994 or 1998)

Effective 3/28/02, using the 4/01/01 Salary Schedule, for employees who are entitled to a Longevity Pay based on their Increment code:

  • OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee's Job Data panel effective 3/28/02 to reflect either a movement to Long Step 1 (increment code 1998) if an employee's FTA salary is at least Maximum of the grade, but less than Long Step 1, or a movement to Long Step 2 (increment code 1994), if an employee's salary is at least at Long Step 1, but less than Long Step 2. The Action of Pay Rt Chg (Pay Rate Change) and the Reason of LGP (Longevity Pay) will be used.
Salary Increase (3%, $900 minimum or $.50 minimum)

Based on the 4/1/02 Salary Schedule, for employees who are Active, on Paid Leave of Absence or on Workers' Compensation Leave on 3/28/02:

  • OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee's Job Data panel effective 3/28/02 to reflect either a 3 1/2 % salary increase, rounded to the next highest dollar, for annual salaried employees, or next highest cent, for hourly employees, or a minimum increase of $900 for salaried employees, or minimum increase of $.50 for hourly employees. The Action of Pay Rt Chg (Pay Rate Change) and the Reason of SAC (Mass Salary Increase) will be used.
  • If the 3% salary increase for an NS 560 unrepresented employee is not approved by the UCS Administrative Board, OSC will manually delete or modify the 3/28/02 raise row on the Job Data record, as appropriate.

Automatic Update of Increment Codes

After the increments and longevity payments are processed in period 2C/1L, the system will automatically update increment codes, as appropriate, on the Job Data record using the action of Data Change and Reason of CIC (Cor Inc Cd).

Automatic Longevity Bonus

Longevity Bonus
  • OSC will automatically insert a row on the Additional Pay panel, effective 3/28/02, for employees whose status on 3/28/02 is Active, Paid Leave of Absence or Workers' Compensation Leave and whose Anniversary date on the Job Data 3 panel is between 3/31/1930 and 03/31/1982 to pay a Longevity Bonus of $1500. The Earn Code JLO (Judicial Longevity) will be used to identify the payment. The Judicial Longevity Bonus will be prorated for part-time employees.

Reveal Reports

The following Reveal reports will be available for agency review after the payments have been made. All reports will be sorted by agency code, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

Mass Increment Payment Exception Report (NHRP708)

This report will identify employees who did not receive an automatic increment. Fields on the report include Emplid, Employee Record No., Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, FTA Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report will identify the reason the employee's salary was not increased by identifying one of the following messages:

  • Salary below minimum
  • Position and Job do not match
  • FIS missing
  • FIS below current
  • Increment code missing
  • Increment code invalid
  • Insufficient Days (Note: OSC will count days from period 1 through period 26 to determine eligibility for a service increment. When reviewing this list, agencies should determine eligibility by counting days from 4/1/01 through 3/31/02.)
Mass Salary Increase Exception Report (NHRP709)

This report will identify employees who did not receive an automatic Salary Increase. Fields on the report include Emplid, Employee Record No., Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part time Percentage and FTA Salary. The report will identify the reason the employee's salary was not increased by identifying one of the following messages:

  • Salary below minimum
  • Position and Job do not match
Mass Salary Payment/Mass Increment Payment Report (NHRP704)

Two generations of this report will be run. The first report will identify all employees who received the automatic annual service increment. The second report will identify all employees who received an automatic salary increase or longevity payment. The report will identify the employee's increased salary. Other fields on the report include Emplid, Employee Record No., Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason and Increment Code.

Mass Additional Pay Report (NHRP703)

This report will identify all employees receiving an automatic increase for earn codes LOC (Location Pay) and JLO (Judicial Longevity Bonus). Fields on this report include Emplid, Employee Record No., Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Sal Plan, Bargaining Unit and Additional Pay Amount.

Agency Actions For Period 2C/1L

The following procedures must be used by the agency when reporting transactions in pay period 2C/1L:

  1. For Pay Changes, Position Changes, and Transfers requested on the Job Action Request or Transfer Request panel, and the effective date of the Action is on or before 3/28/02:
    • The agency must NOT include the Increment, Longevity Pay, or the 3 1/2 % increase in the salary rate reported in the Pay Rate field.
    • The agency must report the proper increment code for April 2002.
    • For eligible employees, OSC will automatically apply the Increment or Longevity payment based on the increment code reported, effective 3/28/02.
    • OSC will automatically apply the 3 1/2 % increase effective 3/28/02.
  2. For Pay Changes, Position Changes, and Transfers requested on the Job Action Request or Transfer Request panel, and the effective date of the Action is after 3/28/02:
    • The agency must include, if applicable, the increment or longevity payment, and the 3% increase in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
    • The agency must report the projected increment code for April 2003.
  3. For employees who are on a Leave of Absence without pay (except Workers' Compensation Leave) on 3/28/02 and who are returned from leave after 3/28/02, the agency must submit the appropriate pay change on the Job Action Request panel, effective the date of the return.
  4. For employees who are on a Paid Leave of Absence with a Reason of MLS (Military Stipend) on 3/28/02 and who return from leave after 3/28/02, the agency must report the appropriate pay change on the Job Action Request panel, effective the date of the return.
  5. For employees due an automatic service increment in pay period 1, who receive an unsatisfactory rating, the agency must request the Action of Data Chg on the Job Action Request panel, using the Reason of USP (Unsat Perf) and the increment code 0003.
  6. Location Pay:
    • If the agency adds the earn code LOC (Location Pay) to the Additional Pay panel, and the effective date is prior to 3/28/02, the location amount must be entered as $1100.
    • Effective 3/28/02, OSC will automatically insert a row on the Additional Pay panel to increase the amount of the Location pay to $1200.
    • If the agency adds the earn code LOC (Location Pay) to the Additional Pay panel and the effective date is on or after 3/28/02, the agency must enter the amount of the Location Pay as $1200.

Agency Procedures: Reporting Earnings in the Time Entry Panel

To report miscellaneous earnings (e.g.: overtime), it is necessary to enter multiple rows in the Time Entry panel if the earnings dates being reported overlap the effective date of the salary increase.

The first row must be inserted with the inclusive dates prior to the effective date of the salary change. The second row must be inserted with the inclusive dates equal to, and after the effective date of the salary change.

Agency Responsibility: Reporting in Period 3C/2L

Employees Identified on the Mass Salary Increase Exception Report (NHRP709)

Salary Below Minimum - Agencies must review the Job Data records of these employees to determine the appropriate action. The employees may be in incorrect positions and a position change may be required, in addition to a Pay Change. The Reason of CFS (Cor FY Sal) must be used for Pay Changes effective 3/28/02.

Position and Job Data Do Not Match - Agencies must review the Job Data records of these employees and submit the appropriate Position Change and/or Pay Change on the Job Action Request panel. The Reason of CFS (Cor Fy Sal) must be used for Pay Changes effective 3/28/02.

Employees Identified on the Mass Increment Payment Exception Report (NHRP708)

Agencies must submit Pay Changes, if applicable, using the Reason of INC ( Increment) on the Job Action Request panel for employees having any of the following messages identified on the report:

  • FIS missing
  • FIS below current
  • Increment code invalid
  • Increment code missing

Salary Below Minimum - Agencies must review the Job Data records of these employees to determine the appropriate action. The employees may be in incorrect positions and a Position Change may be required, in addition to a Pay Change(s). The Reason of CFS (Cor Fy Sal) must be used for Pay Changes effective 3/28/02.

Position and Job Data Do Not Match - Agencies must review the Job Data records of these employees and submit the appropriate Position Change and/or Pay Change on the Job Action Request panel. The Reason of CFS (Cor Fy Sal) must be used for Pay Changes effective 3/28/02.

Increments Not Processed Automatically

To process an increment or longevity payment after period 1L for an employee not appearing on the Reveal reports identified above, the agency must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Request panel using the Reason of INC (Increment) or LGP (Longevity Payment).

Longevity Bonus

To report a Longevity Bonus for an employee who did not receive an automatic payment, enter the following on the Additional Pay panel as follows:

Earnings Code JLO
Effective Date 3/28/02*
OT Effective Date Same as effective date
Annual Additional Earnings Payment Amount
Earnings End Date 3/26/03

*If an employee was eligible and on the payroll 3/28/02, the agency must enter 3/28/02. If the employee was off the payroll on 3/28/02, enter the return to payroll date.

Questions

All questions may be referred to your payroll auditor.