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Date: July 14, 2005 | Bulletin Number: DH-18 |
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Subject |
Eligibility and Processing Instructions for the Workers’
Compensation Supplemental Pay Program for Rent Regulation Services Unit
(RRSU) (DC 37) Employees |
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Purpose |
To inform agencies of the eligibility of RRSU (DC 37) employees
to receive the Workers’ Compensation Supplemental Pay Benefit effective
7/1/05 and to provide procedures for the payment of the Supplemental Pay
Benefit. |
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Affected Employees |
Employees in Bargaining Unit 67 who have a Workers’
Compensation accident occurring on or after 7/1/05. |
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Effective Date(s) |
July 1, 2005 |
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Background |
Pursuant to Chapter 9 of the Laws of 2005, an agreement between the
State of New York and the Rent Regulation Service Unit (DC 37) provides
for a Supplemental Pay Benefit payable to employees whose degree of disability
as determined by the State Insurance Fund (SIF) is more than 50% and the
statutory payment received from SIF is less than 60% of the employee’s
normal gross wages. |
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Eligibility |
Employees represented by RRSU (DC 37) who sustain a Workers’ Compensation
injury on or after 7/1/05 may be eligible to receive a Supplemental Pay
Benefit while on Workers’ Compensation Leave Without Pay, provided
the statutory payment received from SIF is less than 60% of the employee’s
normal gross wages.
For the purpose of determining the Supplemental Pay Benefit, the normal gross wage is defined as the sum of base annual salary, Location Pay, Geographic Differential, Shift Differential, and Inconvenience Pay the employee would otherwise receive if the employee were not on Workers’ Compensation Leave. To be considered eligible for a Supplemental Pay Benefit, SIF must determine the employee is more than 50% disabled and the employee must be within the first cumulative 39 weeks of disability following the date of accident. Additionally, if SIF determines the employee is less than 50% disabled,
the agency is required to find the employee a position according to
the Mandatory Alternate Duty Policy. |
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Agency Responsibility: Placing the Employee on Workers’ Compensation Leave |
Under the Workers’ Compensation Law, an employee necessarily absent
from work due to a Workers’ Compensation accident or disease is
required to serve a seven (7) calendar day waiting period.
During the waiting period, an employee has the option of charging accrued Leave credits or immediately being placed on Leave Without Pay. For employees who charge Leave credits, the agency must place the employee on Leave Without Pay after the expiration of the seven (7) calendar day waiting period or upon the exhaustion of leave credits, whichever occurs first. If the Leave is reported late, the agency must charge the employee’s accruals, if available, and use the first day of the current pay period as the Leave date. This avoids an overpayment of salary. If the employee has no accruals to charge, the agency must use the latest date possible to remove the employee from the payroll. The resulting Overpayment will be recovered from the employee’s Supplemental Payments, if applicable, or upon the employee’s return to the payroll, whichever comes first. For additional information regarding the charging of leave credits beyond the waiting period, the agency should refer to the Department of Civil Service Attendance and Leave Manual General Information Bulletin 93-03, page 2, Part II. Before reporting the Leave of Absence, the agency must report the date
of accident and the effective date of the Leave Without Pay on the Incident
and Injury Details pages, respectively. Reporting Information on the Incident and Injury Details Pages
Placing the Employee on Leave Without Pay Note: It is essential that agencies report the appropriate Action/Reason code when employees are placed on Workers’ Compensation Leave Without Pay. The appropriate Action/Reason code ensures the employees receive the correct Workers’ Compensation benefits. To assist agencies in reporting the appropriate codes, OSC has added new on-line error messages that will be generated whenever the Action/Reason code selected is not appropriate for the information supplied on the Incident and Injury Details pages. A summary of all Action/Reason Codes to be used for RRSU (DC 37) employees who must be placed on Workers’ Compensation Leave Without Pay is listed later in this bulletin. Maximum Workers’ Compensation Benefit |
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WLA |
For additional information regarding the Incident and Injury Details
pages, the agency should refer to the Web-based Learning Assistant (WLA)
procedure entitled “Processing a Workers’ Compensation Leave.” |
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Reporting the Reinstatement from Leave |
When the employee returns to work, the agency must insert a row on the
employee’s Job Data page to report the Return from Leave, effective
the date the employee returned to work. The Action/Reason of Return
from Leave/RPS (Rein WC 60% Sup) must be used.
To assist agencies with reporting reinstatements for the various Workers’
Compensation programs for RRSU (DC 37) employees, a summary of all Action/Reason
Codes is listed later in this bulletin. |
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OSC Actions: Calculation of Supplemental Pay Benefits |
SIF will notify OSC each pay period, via a file, of statutory payments
paid to RRSU (DC 37) employees who are more than 50% disabled and are
within the first cumulative 39 weeks of disability following the date
of accident. OSC will review each employee appearing on the SIF file to
determine if the employee is due a Supplemental Pay Benefit. Calculation
of Supplemental Pay Benefit
Total Normal Biweekly Gross Wages $1080.61 x .60 (60%) = $648.37
$ 648.37 (60% of employee’s
normal biweekly gross wages)
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OSC Responsibility: |
After OSC has calculated Supplemental Pay Benefits each pay period,
the Supplemental Pay Benefit information for all employees including those
for which a Supplemental Pay Benefit is not due will be recorded on the
Workers’ Compensation Data page.
The Workers’ Compensation Data page is available for agency reference and provides the following Supplemental Pay Benefit information:
Additional information regarding the Workers’ Compensation Data
page can be found in Payroll Bulletin
No. 271. |
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Summary of RRSU (DC 37) Action/Reason Combinations for Reporting Workers’ Compensation Transactions |
Since there are three Workers’ Compensation programs that can be used for RRSU (DC 37) employees, the following information is provided to assist agencies with the reporting of Action/Reason combinations to be used for each program when placing the employee on Leave Without Pay and reinstating the employee from Leave Without Pay.
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Deductions taken from the Supplemental Payments |
In addition to taxes, Social Security and Medicare, all deductions previously
deducted from the regular paycheck will be retained and deducted from
the Supplemental Pay Benefit check provided the gross amount is sufficient
to do so. If the employee’s gross salary is insufficient to cover
all deductions refer to Payroll Bulletin
No. 559 for OSC’s current Deduction Priority Schedule. |
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Retirement Credit and Deduction |
While an employee is covered under this benefit, the employee is entitled
to full retirement service and salary credit, up to a maximum of one year
per injury.
When an employee receives a Supplemental Pay Benefit, the amount reported as Retirement Salary for the Award (RSA) is also reported to the New York State Employees’ Retirement System as pensionable earnings. This amount appears on both the Workers’ Compensation Data page and on the employee’s paycheck stub. If the employee receives other pensionable earnings in the same paycheck, these amounts are also reported to the Employees’ Retirement System. The RSA amount is also used to calculate retirement contributions for contributing members. If there are additional pensionable earnings, these amounts are also included in the calculation and the resulting deduction is reported to the Employees’ Retirement System. Employees are entitled to receive full retirement service credit while on WPS. The number of days covered by the Supplement al Pay Benefit are included on the Workers’ Compensation Data page and are subsequently reported to the Employees’ Retirement System as service credit days. |
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Health Insurance |
Questions regarding health insurance may be directed to your agency’s
Employee Benefits Division. |
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Mandatory Alternate Duty |
When the State Insurance Fund has determined that the employee is 50%
disabled, the agency must offer the employee a position according to the
Mandatory Alternate Duty provision. Additional information regarding the
Mandatory Alternate Duty Policy can be found in the RRSU (DC 37) Agreement,
Section 13.8. |
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Control-D Reports |
Supplemental Pay Benefits will appear on the NHRP705, Workers’
Compensation Transaction Report. Included in the report are the disability
dates, the amount of the SIF Award, and the Supplemental Pay Benefit amount.
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Questions |
Questions regarding the State Insurance Fund award may be directed to your agency’s SIF representative. Questions regarding unavailability of Mandatory Alternate Duty assignments must be directed to the Governor’s Office for Employee Relations at (518) 473-7233. Questions regarding retirement benefits may be directed to the ERS Information Office at (518) 474-7736. Questions regarding the Supplemental Pay Benefits may be directed to the Payroll Audit mailbox. Questions regarding deductions taken from the Workers’ Compensation
Supplemental Pay Benefits may be directed to the Payroll Deductions mailbox. |
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