NYS Comptroller Seal  

Bureau of State Payroll Services

Date:  January 7, 2002

Bulletin No.  CU-129

Subject CUNY Raises for Employees in Classified Service
Purpose To provide agencies with information regarding automatic raise processing and related agency procedures
Affected Employees Salaried Employees in the following Bargaining Units:

District Council 37 (DC37)/BU's: TG, TH, TM, TR, TX, T9, SF, TU,SJ, TJ, TP, U6

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 300/BU S6

International Association of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 305/BU: T3

International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 237/BU's: SV,SB, SU, SX, SZ, SM, ST, SW, SP, SE

Hourly Employees in the following Bargaining Units:DC 37/BU's: TY, TK, SF, T9, U3, TU/excluding locksmithsIBT Local 237/BU: SE
Effective Date Increases will be processed for all salaried employees and certain hourly employees for check dated December 27, 2001.
Background The Memorandum of Agreement between the City University of New York and the above named Bargaining Units provides for the following general increases:

4% increase, rounded to the nearest dollar, for salaried employees, or the nearest cent, for hourly employees, effective 4/1/00 and 4/1/01 (compounded), for employees in IBT, SEIU, and IATSE.

4% increase, rounded to the nearest dollar, for salaried employees, or the nearest cent, for hourly employees, effective 7/1/00 and 7/1/01 (compounded), for employees in DC-37.
Eligibility Criteria For employees in IBT, SEIU, and IATSE:
All salaried employees who were active or on a leave on 4/1/00 and all hourly employees in BU SE who are active on 4/1/00 are eligible for a 4% increase effective 4/1/00. Employees who became active or moved into an eligible BU after 4/1/00 are eligible for a 4 % increase effective the date of the appointment.
All salaried employees who were active or on a leave on 4/1/01 and all hourly employees in BU SE who are active on 4/1/01 are eligible for a 4% increase (compounded) effective 4/1/01. Employees who became active or moved into an eligible BU after 4/1/01 are eligible for a 4% increase (compounded) effective the date of the appointment.

For employees in DC-37:
All salaried employees in DC-37 who are active or on a leave on 7/1/00 and all hourly employees in BU's TU and T9 who are active on 7/1/00 are eligible for a 4% increase effective 7/1/00. Employees who became active or were moved into DC-37 or TU or T9 after 7/1/00 are eligible for a 4 % increase effective the date of the appointment.
All salaried employees in DC-37 who are active or on a leave on 7/1/01 and all hourly employees in BU's TU and T9 who are active on 7/1/01 are eligible for a 4% increase (compounded) effective 7/1/01. Employees who became active or moved into DC-37 or TU or T9 after 7/1/01 are eligible for a 4% increase (compounded) effective the date of the appointment.
Exceptions to Eligibility Criteria and Additional Information For the exceptions to the above stated eligibility criteria and additional information regarding increases, refer to Carmelo Batista's memorandums, dated November 9, 2001 and November 15, 2001.
Increases in Miscellaneous Earnings The following miscellaneous earnings have been increased:

Uniform Allowance (Earn Code UA6)
For employees in the Campus Security Assistant title, the bi-annual amount has been increased from $150 to $156, effective 4/1/00, and $162, effective 4/1/01.
For employees in the titles Campus Security Officer, Campus Peace Officer, and Campus Public Safety Sergeant, the bi-annual amount has been increased from $250 to $260, effective 4/1/00, and $270, effective 4/1/01.

Motor Vehicle Earnings (Earn Codes: MV1, MV2, MV3, and MV4)
MV1 has been increased from $3.86 to $4.01, effective 7/1/00, and $4.17, effective 7/1/01.
MV2 has been increased from $7.68 to $7.99, effective 7/1/00, and $8.31, effective 7/1/01.
MV3 has been increased from $11.54 to $12.00, effective 7/1/00, and $12.48, effective 7/1/01.
MV4 has been increased from $15.36 to $15.98, effective 7/1/00, and $16.62, effective 7/1/01.
Automatic Raise Processing After all regular processing for payroll period 19C is complete, OSC will apply the automatic increases as follows:

For Employees in IBT, SEIU, and IATSE:
OSC will automatically apply a 4% salary increase for all salaried employees who are active or on a leave of absence on 4/1/00 and all hourly employees in BU SE who are active on 4/1/00. The raise will be applied to the employee's 4/1/00 salary rate and a row will be inserted, effective 4/1/00, to reflect the increased rate. The Action of Pay Rt Chg and Reason of Mass Salary Increase (SAC) will be used.
For all rows on the Job Data panels that are subsequent to 4/1/00 where an employee is in an eligible bargaining unit (including hires, rehires, transfers, position changes, pay changes, data changes, terms, etc), OSC will calculate a 4% salary increase using the existing salary rate and insert a row to reflect the increased salary using the Action of Pay Rt Chg and Reason of SAC.
After the 4/1/00 increases are automatically applied to the Job Data records to reflect the initial 4% increase, OSC will automatically apply a 4% increase, effective 4/1/01, for all eligible salaried employees who are active or on a leave of absence on 4/1/01 and all hourly employees in BU SE who are active on 4/1/01. The increase will be calculated on the salary in effect on 4/1/01 and a row will be inserted in Job Data to reflect the increased rate. The Action of Pay Rt Chg and Reason of SAC will be used.
For all rows on the Job Data panels that are subsequent to 4/1/01 where an employee is in an eligible bargaining unit (including hires, rehires, transfers, position changes, data changes, pay changes, terms, etc), OSC will calculate a 4% salary increase using the existing salary rate on the Job Data record and insert a row to reflect the increased salary using the Action of Pay Rt Chg and Reason of SAC.

College Assistants and Sign Language Interpreters: 
For college assistants and sign language interpreters, the raises will be automatically processed for certain employees in the check of 12/27/01 and the check of 1/24/02.

Due to the eligibility criteria described in Carmelo Batista's memorandums, OSC is not able to do automatic processing for all employees in these titles.

Employees not receiving automatic increases and those receiving only partial increases will be identified on a report after the raises are processed for check dated 1/24/02. The agency will be required to review the record of each employee and determine if an increase or additional increase is applicable. If the employee is due an increase, the agency may submit the increases commencing in payroll period 22C, check dated 2/7/02.

The following instructions reflect the automatic processing that will occur for the check of 12/27/00.

NOTE: Agencies will receive additional information and procedures regarding the processing of the automatic increases to be processed in the check of 1/24/02 in a forthcoming bulletin.

OSC will automatically process increases effective 7/1/2000 and7/1/2001 for college assistants and sign language interpreters who were active on both 6/30/00 and 6/30/01, provided the employee does not have a Pay Rt Chg, Transfer, Position Change or Termination on his/her Job Data panel effective 7/1/00 or later.

NOTE: If there is a Pay Rt Chg, Transfer, Position Change or Termination on the employee's record, the raises may be processed automatically in the check dated 1/24/02 OR, if the system is unable to process an automatic increase because of the exceptional criteria stated in Carmelo Batista's memorandums dated 11/9/01 and 11/15/01, may have to be submitted by the agency in pay period 22C.

If the increase can be processed in the check of 12/27/01 because the employee meets the criteria described above, the system will insert raise rows effective 7/1/00 and 7/1/01 to reflect the 4% increases. The Action of Pay Rt Chg and Reason of SAC will be used.
For all employees receiving the increases, the system will update all Data Change rows on Job Data that are subsequent to the effective date of the salary increases. Additional rows will be inserted to update these rows using the Action of Pay Rt Chg and the Reason of SAC.

Disability Accommodations Specialists:
The Job Data record for hourly employees in the title Disability Accommodations Specialist will be manually updated by OSC to reflect the new rates effective 7/1/00 and 7/1/01.
The new rates are $16.18 effective 7/1/00 and $16.83 effective 7/1/01. OSC will insert new rows on the Job Data record effective 7/1/00 and 7/1/01 using the Action of Pay Rt Chg and Reason of Change Rate.
Agency Procedures for Pay Period 19C The agency must not use the new rates when reporting the annual salary rate for Actions submitted in pay period 19C for salaried employees in eligible bargaining units. The agency must use the new rates commencing in pay period 20C when submitting transactions, such as hires, rehires, and position changes, for salaried employees in an eligible bargaining unit.

The agency must not use the new rates when reporting the hourly salary rate for Actions submitted in pay period 19C for hourly (refer to next bullet for special instructions regarding College Assistants and Sign Language Interpreters). The agency must start using the new rates commencing in pay period 20C when submitting transactions, such as hires, rehires, and position changes for hourly employees.

College Assistants and Sign Language Interpreters will receive automatic increases over two pay periods (19C and 21C). Contractual increases for all employees who will not receive automatic increases can be submitted after the automatic processing is complete (refer to Note below). The agency must not use the new rates when appointing employees to these titles in pay period 19C. The agency may use the new rates when appointing employees to these titles in pay period 20C.

NOTE: After the raises are processed in pay period 21C, the agency will be notified of the employees who did not receive the automatic increases and also employees who received partial increases. OSC will issue a forthcoming bulletin regarding the automatic raise processing for pay period 21C. This bulletin will provide agencies with procedures for processing rate increases for employees not processed automatically and those who were processed automatically, but who only received a partial increase.

Prior to the processing of the automatic increases for hourly employees in pay period 19C, the agency must terminate college assistants and sign language interpreters who are no longer working, but whose status is active on the Job Data record. The effective date should be the day after the last date for which the employee received earnings. Agencies should refer to the most recent Reveal Report NHRP 725 for a list of employees who have not been paid in more than 3 payroll periods. The report will identify the last date of the payroll period in which the employee was last paid.

Since college assistants and sign language interpreters must have received at least one paycheck in the six month period prior to 7/1/00 to be eligible for the 7/1/00 increase and at least one paycheck in the six month period prior to 7/1/01 to be eligible for the 7/1/01 increase, the agency must determine which employees were active on both 7/1/00 and 7/1/01 and did not receive any earnings in the 6 month period before each increase.

For employees that did not receive any earnings as a college assistant or sign language interpreter in either or both of the 6 month periods prior to the 7/1 increases, but received earnings after the effective date of either of the 7/1 increases, the agency must terminate the employee on the Job Data record effective the day the employee last received earnings before the effective date of a salary increase (7/1/00 and/or 7/1/01). The agency must also Rehire the employee as of the date earnings commenced after the effective date of a salary increase. All Rehire actions must also have a corresponding Pay Change action submitted on the Job Action Request panel effective the same date as the Rehire action.

NOTE: If the agency cannot enter the Term and the Rehire actions because the employee has a row on Job Data that has an effective date that is subsequent to the effective date of the Term and/or the Rehire action, the agency must request the Action of Data Change and Reason of Cor Hist on the Job Action Request panel and provide OSC with the applicable information for the actions. OSC will update the Job Data records to reflect the Term and Rehire and Pay Change actions.

The earnings on the Additional Pay panel will not be increased automatically. The agency may submit the increases in payroll period 19C by inserting a row(s) on the Additional Pay panel for the appropriate earn code and increasing the amount of the earnings as appropriate. NOTE: If the agency is unable to insert a row because there is an existing row on the Additional Pay panel that is subsequent to the effective date of an increase, the agency must submit a Data Change/ Correct History on the Job Action Request panel and inform OSC of the corrections that must be made to the employee's Additional Pay panel. OSC will correct the Additional Pay panel, as appropriate.

Because OSC is not able to identify the salaried employees that meet certain exceptional criteria as identified in Carmelo Batista's memorandums dated 11/9/01 and 11/15/01, the agency must identify employees who fall into the following categories and provide OSC with the appropriate salary rates for each Job Data row on the employee's record that will be incorrectly increased through the automatic process. Corrections must be made on the Job Action Request panel using the Action of Data Chg and Reason of Cor Hist. The appropriate salary rates and corresponding effective dates must be stated in the Status Reason block. OSC will correct the rows in payroll period 19C based on the information supplied by the agency. The conditions to be identified by the agencies that require OSC to correct the salary rate automatically applied by the system are:

1. If the employee was appointed above the minimum salary on or after the effective date of the 4/1/00 or 7/1/00 increase, but before the 4/1/01 or the 7/1/01 increase, the employee is not eligible for the 4% increase effective 4/1/00 or 7/1/00, whichever is applicable. Since the system will automatically increase the salary rate as of 4/1/00 or 7/1/00, the agency must notify OSC of the corrected salary rate and the corresponding effective dates for all rows that will be incorrectly increased through the automatic process. If the employee is still active as of the effective date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or7/1/01, the employee is eligible for the 4% to be calculated as of the effective date of the 2nd increase. However, the system will calculate the 2nd automatic increase incorrectly since the 1st increase was calculated incorrectly. Therefore, the agency must also advise OSC of the correct salary rate for the 2nd increase, effective 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, whichever is applicable, as well as the salary rate information for all subsequent Job Data rows, if any, that will be incorrectly updated through the automatic process.
NOTE: This exception regarding appointments above the minimum does not include employees in Gittleson titles that are appointed to receive Levels 2, 3, 4, 1B, or 1C rates and 10, 15, 20, 25 years of service as per the Gittleson rate chart. Likewise, for employees in Security titles who moved to the 1, 2, or 3 year salary rate on the salary chart.

2. If the employee was appointed above the minimum salary rate on or after the effective date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, the employee is not eligible for the increase. Therefore, the agency must notify OSC of the corrected salary rate and the corresponding effective date for all rows on the Job Data panel that will be incorrectly updated through the automatic process. NOTE: Refer to note in #1 above.

3. If the employee received a longevity increment that became pensionable on or after the effective date of the initial increase, 4/1/00 or 7/1/00, but before the effective date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, the longevity increment should not be included in the base salary for computing the 1st increase. However, since OSC will automatically increase the employee's salary rate based on the base salary rate that includes the pensionable longevity increment amount, the automatic salary rate will be calculated incorrectly. Therefore, the agency must notify OSC of the appropriate salary rate and the corresponding effective dates for all rows on Job Data that are effective on and after the date the longevity increment became pensionable. Also, the 2nd increase will be calculated incorrectly since the 1st increase will be calculated incorrectly. Therefore, if the employee is eligible for a 2nd increase, the agency must also notify OSC of the appropriate salary rate as of the effective date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, and for all rows on Job Data that will be incorrectly updated through the automatic process that are subsequent to the effective date of the 2nd increase.

4. If the employee received a longevity increment that became pensionable on or after the effective date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, the longevity increment should not be included in computing the 2nd increase. Since OSC will automatically increase the employee's salary rate based on the base salary rate that includes the pensionable longevity increment amount, the automatic salary rate will be calculated incorrectly. Therefore, the agency must notify OSC of the appropriate salary rate and the corresponding effective dates for all rows on Job Data that are effective on or after the date the longevity increment became pensionable.

5. If the employee received a merit to base increase effective on or after the effective date of the 1st salary increase, 4/1/00 or 7/1/00, but before the effective date of the 2nd salary increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, the merit increase should not be included in computing the 1st increase. Since OSC will automatically increase the employee's salary rate including the merit amount, the automatic salary rate will be calculated incorrectly. Therefore, the agency must notify OSC of the appropriate salary rate and the corresponding effective dates for all rows on Job Data that are effective on or after the effective date of a merit increase. For employees that received the merit increase before the effective date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, the merit amount should be used to calculate the 2nd increase, effective 4/1/01 or 7/1/01. However, since the 1st increase was automatically calculated incorrectly, the 2nd increase will be calculated incorrectly also. Therefore, the agency must notify OSC of the correct salary rates for all rows on Job Data that will be calculated incorrectly through the automatic process.

If the employee received a merit to base increase effective on or after the date of the 2nd increase, 4/1/01 or 7/1/01, the merit amount should not be used to calculate the 2nd increase. Since OSC will include the merit amount when calculating the automatic increase, the agency must notify OSC of the corrected amount as of the effective date of the merit increase and for all rows on Job Data, if any, that are subsequent to the effective date of the merit increase that will be calculated incorrectly through the automatic process.
Retroactive Processing OSC will automatically calculate retroactive salary adjustments resulting from the automatic salary increases and the additional pay increases submitted by the agency.

Automatic retroactive adjustments will also be calculated for certain earnings, such as overtime and holiday pay). A list of all earn codes that will be automatically adjusted and their respective retroactive earn codes is attached (Attachment 1).

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency since the effective date of the increases, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency, provided the employee was paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record #.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency and have been paid from more than one Employee Record # since the effective date of the increases, the retroactive adjustment for earnings in each Employee Record # will be paid in the most current agency under each Employee Record #.

Retroactive Adjustments/Agency Responsibility: The agency must calculate and submit retroactive adjustments for miscellaneous earnings that will not be adjusted automatically. A list of earn codes that will not be automatically adjusted is attached (Attachment 2).

The agency must review the automatic retroactive adjustment in certain cases where the system cannot properly calculate an adjustment of earnings. Therefore, in order to ensure that employees are paid correctly, the agency should review the Retro Pay Review and Update Panel when any of the following conditions exist in an employee's record to determine if an additional adjustment in earnings is required. The agency must report all additional adjustments using the earn code AJR (Adjust Raise) in the Time Entry panel in a subsequent pay period. Agencies should determine employees that will be overpaid in the 12/27 check/advice before the check is distributed to the employee. The employee should be advised that the recovery of the overpayment will be made in a subsequent pay period.

RGS previously reported as a negative amount: The earn code RGS will be automatically adjusted. However, if the RGS was submitted as a negative amount, the system calculates the adjustment incorrectly. Agencies must calculate the retroactive adjustment for all RGS earnings submitted as a negative amount and report the adjustment of earnings.

RGS previously submitted using partial days:The earn code RGS will be automatically adjusted based on full days only. For example, if 1.5 days was previously submitted, the system will adjust for 2 days. Agencies must calculate the appropriate retroactive adjustment for all RGS earnings reported as partial days and report the adjustment amount in the Time Entry panel.

RGS previously submitted using a date range that exceeds the number of days reported:If the agency reported a date range that exceeded the number of days of RGS, the system will calculate the adjustment of earnings based on the number of workdays within the date range. The agency must calculate the correct adjustment and report the adjustment of earnings as a negative amount in the Time Entry panel.

Earnings that will be adjusted automatically, such as overtime, RGS, and RGH, will be calculated incorrectly if the dates previously submitted at the time the earnings was reported overlap the effective date of a salary or additional pay increase:
If the earnings dates reported on a single line in a previous pay period on the Time Entry panel overlap the effective date of a salary or additional pay increase, the retroactive adjustment for the earnings will be calculated for all earnings using the salary or additional pay amount in effect on the date reported as the Earn End date. Agencies must review the automatic retroactive adjustment when an earn code was previously submitted and the dates overlap the effective date of a salary increase or additional pay increase and submit an adjustment for the amount the employee was overpaid or underpaid.

The earn code OVP (overpayment) was reported in the Additional Pay panel since the effective date of an increase:
If the earn code OVP was reported to recover an overpayment since the effective date of an increase, the agency must review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine if it was correct. The agency must submit the appropriate adjustment of earnings in the Time Entry panel.

An AC230 was submitted to reduce earnings previously overpaid since the effective date of an increase:
The agency must review the retroactive adjustment for all employees who had a check returned or exchanged on an AC230. In most cases, AC230's are not considered when an automatic retroactive adjustment is calculated by the system. If applicable, the agency must submit an adjustment of earnings in the Time Entry panel.
Negative Retroactive Adjustments/Agency Responsibility Retroactive adjustments will be calculated automatically based on the employee's status commencing with the effective date of the employee's initial increase. If the employee had a retroactive action reported since the effective date of the employee's initial increase, and the action resulted in an overpayment of salary that was not recovered automatically by the system, the system will again try to recover the overpayment when the raise is processed. In many cases, the agency has already recovered the overpayment using the Earn Code OVP or by returning the check to OSC.

To prevent the system from processing the negative adjustment again when the raise is processed, OSC will again disable the automatic adjustment for any pay period in which the adjustment results in a negative amount, unless the agency notifies OSC in the General Comments panel to process the entire negative adjustment when the raise is processed in period 19C.

For employees whose negative retroactive adjustment will again be disabled, the agency must review the retroactive adjustment paid to the employee to determine if it was correct. Employees may be due additional adjustment amounts for pay periods in which the negative adjustments were disabled.

To assist the agency in determining if the retroactive adjustment paid to these employees was correct, OSC will provide the agencies with the following listings after the raise is processed in pay period 19C. The listings will identify all employees whose negative retroactive adjustment was disabled (not processed) previously and again in pay period 19C.

The first listing will identify employees and their negative earnings, by pay period, calculated before the increases are applied in period 19C.
The second listing will identify employees and their negative earnings, by pay period, calculated after the increases are processed.

Employees appearing on these listings will receive the retroactive adjustment for all periods in which positive amounts are calculated by the system.

The agency should compare the listings to determine if an additional adjustment of earnings is required. Generally, the difference between the amounts identified on the listings is the amount by which the original overpayment may be reduced. Recovery of Overpayments from Retroactive Adjustment.  If an employee has an outstanding overpayment, the agency may recover the overpayment from the retroactive adjustment that will be processed in pay period 19C.

For employees that are active in period 19C and do not have an existing OVP set up in the Additional Pay panel, the agency must enter the Earn Code OVP on the Additional Pay panel to recover the overpayment.

For employees that are active in period 19C and have an existing OVP set up on the Additional Pay panel, the agency must insert a new row at the effective date for the OVP earn code effective the first day of the payroll period. The amount entered in the Earnings and Goal Amount fields should be the difference between the current goal balance and the goal amount, preceded by a minus sign.

For employees that are inactive or on a leave of absence without pay in pay period 19C, the agency must enter the earn code ADJ with the negative amount in the Time Entry panel. If there is an existing OVP in the Additional Pay panel, a row must be inserted effective the first day of the payroll period for the earn code OVP and the Earnings and Goal Amount fields should be changed to zero.
Reporting Retroactive Adjustments A new earn code AJR (Adjust Raise) has been added to the Earn Programs for raise eligible employees. This earn code should be used to report all adjustments that must be calculated and submitted by the agency.
Earn Code: AJR (Adjust Raise)
Earns Begin Date: Enter 1st date to be adjusted.
Earns End Date: Enter the last date to be adjusted.
Amount: Enter the total adjustment amount (may be negative, if recovering an overpayment).
Comments: Enter an explanation of the adjustment.

Reports The agency will receive a Mass Salary Payment Report (NHRP704) that will identify all employees who received automatic increases. The report will identify the employee's last salary in an eligible bargaining unit that was automatically increased.
Public Queries A public query (00-CUNY_SalaryIncr_AllRows) will be available that will identify employees receiving automatic salary increases and the applicable information for each.
Deduction Information for Inactive Employees Deductions for inactive employees receiving a retroactive adjustment will not be deducted and will be automatically end dated except for the following, if applicable:

Code 403 TIAA Supplemental Retirement Annuity (CUNY)
Code 405 TIAA Special Deferred Annuity
Code 406 Strike/Discip Fine
Code 409 CUNY Disciplinary Fine
Code 413 NBE Tax Deferred Annuity
Code 414 NYT Tax Deferred Annuity
Code 419 CUNY TDA Copeland
Code 425 Repay State Loans/Debt
Code 426 Higher Ed Repay State Loan
Code 582 CUNY SS/Med Deficiency
GARNSH (garnishment)
Direct Deposit for Inactive Employees OSC will insert a row to cancel any active direct deposit records for inactive employees in applicable bargaining units.
Questions Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.