State Payroll Services
Overview of Bureau of State Payroll Services
The Bureau of State Payroll Services (the Bureau) is responsible for ensuring that New York State government employees are paid timely and accurately in accordance with appropriate laws, rules, regulations and contractual provisions. The Bureau performs its responsibilities for employees of the New York State Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, the State University of New York, and the City
Five Sections specializing in various payroll disciplines conduct the work of the Bureau.
The Payroll Earnings Section is responsible for all of the earnings-related payroll work including planning for, auditing and processing payments. The Payroll Planning Team defines the salary payment business requirements for the payroll system and coordinates payroll bulletin processing. The Audit Teams audit payroll information submitted by agencies to ensure compliance with applicable laws, rules, regulations, contract provisions, policies and procedures governing payroll processing. The Salary Determination Team applies statutes, rules, regulations, contractual provisions and policies to ensure that State employees' salaries are calculated correctly.
The Deduction Operations Section audits and processes the deductions for taxes, savings bonds, child support, union dues, charitable and pension contributions, and all other deductions. The section processes the deductions for 7 different retirement systems, 46 unions, 110 negotiating units, dozens of financial institutions including credit unions and insurance companies, and over 30 agents affiliated with the State Employees Federated Appeal.
The Payroll Systems Section is responsible for maintaining and enhancing the State payroll system. The section is responsible for ensuring that the payroll system properly calculates employee payments and successfully implements mass salary increases. The section defines and tests system changes; implements requests for system changes; generates paychecks, direct deposit advices, and W-2s; and provides expenditure information for the Central Accounting System.
The Management Information and Analysis Section provides useful data for managerial and policy decisions. The section identifies trends in payroll processing, monitors the internal control environment, performs statewide quality assurance reviews, provides audit risk assessments, develops productivity statistics and analysis, and provides opportunities to rethink OSC and agency business practices.
The Communications and Customer Support is responsible for training payroll users and supporting the relationship between the Bureau and New York State payroll users. This includes identifying user issues; informing customers of the Bureau's priorities; collaborating with users to achieve common goals; and analyzing needs and developing strategies for meeting those needs.