Subject

October 2007 Merit Step Payments for Employees Represented by the Rent Regulation Services Unit (RRSU)

Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the Merit Step payments and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Merit Step payment eligible grade 18 employees in Bargaining Unit 67.

Effective Date(s)

Merit Step payments for October 2007 are payable October 4, 2007 for Pay Period 14L, paychecks dated October 31, 2007.

Background

Chapter 9 of the Laws of 2005 which implemented the negotiated agreement between RRSU and the State of New York for 2003-2007 and a GOER side letter dated January 10, 2007 provide for the payment of a merit step to eligible BU67 employees.

After an employee receives a Merit Step payment, the Merit Step payment becomes part of the employee’s base salary.

An employee’s Geographic Differential is not reduced by the amount of the Merit Step payment.

OCS Actions
Automatic
Processing
Pay Period 12

After payroll processing for Pay Period 14L is complete, OSC will automatically process the Merit Step payment.

OSC will insert a row in the employee’s Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of PAY/MST (Pay Rate Change/Merit Step payment) with an effective date of 10/4/07 for employees who are Active, on Paid Leave (except Sick Leave) or on Workers’ Compensation Leave (with a Reason code of WDL, WSP or WPS).

For employees who were Inactive, on Paid Sick Leave or on a Leave of Absence Without Pay (excluding WDL, WSP or WPS) on the effective date of the payment, the payment will be applied to the employee’s Job Data record only if the employee was subsequently returned to the payroll in an eligible position during Pay Period 14.  Rows will be inserted using the Action/Reason code of PAY/MST (Pay Rate Change/Merit Step payment) using the following effective dates:

• If the employee was on Paid Sick Leave, a row will be inserted using the first day of Pay Period 14.
  
  
• If the employee is returning from leave during Pay Period 14, a row will be inserted using the effective date of the Rein leave.

All subsequent rows on the Job Data record will also be updated automatically by inserting additional rows with the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).

Note: If the employee returned to the payroll during Pay Period 14 and the MST row was not automatically inserted by OSC, agencies must submit a Job Request for the Merit Step payment in Pay Period 15.

Control-D Report

The following Control-D report will be available after processing of the Merit Step payments:

NHRP704 Mass Salary Increase Report
This report identifies all employees who had a Merit Step payment row inserted and includes the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Effdt, Eff Seq, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason, Old Comprate, New Comprate and Increment Code.

Agency Actions

The following employees will become eligible for the Merit Step payment upon processing of Performance Advances in Pay Period 14L:

Employees occupying a position that has been reallocated in recent years, whose salary was equal to or above the Job Rate of the lower grade (Increment Code 0610 or earlier), and whose salary upon application of the October 2007 Performance Advance will reach the Job Rate of the reallocated grade, will have their increment code automatically updated from 1001 to 0710. 

While these employees are entitled to Job Rate credit from the lower grade, the employee will not receive the Merit Step payment automatically.  Therefore, the agency must submit transactions after Pay Period 14 to make the payment and update the increment code to reflect the increment code that was in effect prior to the reallocation.

Manual Instructions for Payments After Pay Period 14

Agencies must submit transactions through the Job Request page for employees who are eligible at the time of initial payment but who were not processed automatically and for employees who are on a Leave of Absence Without Pay or Paid Sick Leave at the time of payment and return from leave after Pay Period 14.

Agencies must submit a request using the Action/Reason code of PAY/MST (Pay Rate Change/Merit Step payment) with the appropriate effective date and Merit Step payment salary.

Agencies must submit requests to update the salary of subsequent rows using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) if applicable.

Note:  If an agency removes an employee from the eligibility list and later determines that the employee met all eligibility requirements that would have resulted in the employee receiving the Merit Step payment in October 2007 (change in Performance Evaluation, NOD or training), the agency must submit the Merit Step payment through the Job Action Request page retroactive to the original date of payment.

Example:

• An employee received an Unsatisfactory Rating (USP) for 5/18/07 so the agency removed the employee from the eligibility list.
  
  
• The employee received a Rescind Unsatisfactory Rating (RUS) effective 5/18/07 that was not requested until 11/8/07 which changed the employee’s eligibility.
  
  
• A Job Request must be submitted using PAY/MST (Pay Rate Change/Merit Step payment) retroactive to the beginning of Pay Period 14.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Audit mailbox.