Purpose

To define Performance Advances, Longevity Payments, Increment Codes, and Anniversary Dates and to explain their use in payroll processing.

Affected Employees

Graded employees in Bargaining Units NYSCOPBA and Council 82.

Background

A Performance Advance is an increase in salary paid to an eligible employee according to contractual agreement. An eligible employee will continue to receive Performance Advances until the employee has reached the Job Rate of the grade. All employees in Security Bargaining Units are rated on April 1 and Performance Advances are paid on the first day of Pay Period 1.

Longevity Payments are increases added to the salary of the current grade for 10, 15, and 20 years of service in BUs 01, 31, and 61 in the Pay Period following the completion of required service.

Increment Codes are essential to the automatic processing of Performance Advances by PayServ. The Increment Code is a numeric code that indicates whether an employee is due a Performance Advance in the next rating cycle and triggers PayServ to respond accordingly at the time of payment. Increment Codes must be reviewed and updated when an employee's pay or service status changes. An errant or missing increment code may result in mispayment or no payment.

Anniversary Dates in NYSCOPBA and Council 82 can be used to represent an employee's service in the NYSCOPBA and Council 82 bargaining units. Although Anniversary Dates are not used functionally, they can provide vital information for the Agencies to determine when Longevity Payments are due. Anniversary Dates should be adjusted due to workdays of less than full work status.

As with Increment Codes, Anniversary Dates must be updated as the situation warrants.

FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary) Salary is a field used to enter a predetermined salary into the system. It is used in those instances where PayServ does not calculate a Performance Advance automatically. The FIS is used to pay employees who are appointed or promoted to a higher grade before receiving their next Performance Advance in the lower grade, and who are not eligible for a Performance Advance in the higher grade before the Performance Advance in the lower grade is paid. These employees are entitled to the benefit of the Performance Advance they would have received had they not been promoted.

The FIS salary is calculated by adding a Performance Advance to the last salary in the employee's prior grade, not exceeding job rate, and then recalculating the promotion. If the resulting salary is above the current salary of the new grade, it is entered as the FIS Salary and will be paid on the employee's prior rating cycle date.

For graded employees, the Payroll System now requires Increment Codes for all Pay Change Requests, Position Requests (except Position Change/Change Line), and Transfer Requests. For many transactions, including Reinstatement From Leaves, Anniversary Dates are likewise required. The maintenance of Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates is essential to payroll processing.

Specifics

Service in the same or higher grade in another bargaining unit in the current Fiscal year counts for Performance Advance service in the current year.

Unsatisfactory Ratings are reported effective the first day of Pay Period 1. The Unsatisfactory Rating should be entered into the Payroll System before Pay Period 1. The Agency must submit the Action/Reason of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Change Increment Code) to change the Increment Code to 003X in order to stop the Performance Advance from being added to the employee's salary. If the Performance Advance has already been paid, submit a Pay Change with a reason of UNSAT Perf to reduce the employee's salary.

Increment Codes are not needed for Trainee titles (Grade 800).

OSC Actions

The Payroll System uses the information present in the system to automatically process Performance Advances and Longevity Payments. In Pay Period 1 of each Fiscal year, the system will automatically pay Performance Advances to employees whose record contains the Increment Code 001X. The system will also update the salary of any employee with the Increment Codes 004X, 005X, and 0008 and an FIS Salary in their record.

Agency Actions

The Agency must enter the correct Increment Code and Anniversary Dates when submitting Pay Changes, Transfers, and Position Changes (with the exception of POS/CHL) for graded employees. Employees who have been on Leave with No Pay must also have their Increment Codes reviewed when they are reinstated from the Leave. The Leave may affect the Increment Code and/or Anniversary Dates.

Anniversary Dates may be updated if necessary when Reinstatement from Leaves are entered. For Hires and Concurrent Hires, the Anniversary Date defaults to the effective date, but must be repeated for the corresponding Pay Change. For Rehire transactions, the Anniversary Date defaults to the date in the system and must be updated on the corresponding Pay Change.

The Agency must update the Increment Code and Anniversary Dates of employees as needed to insure proper payment.

In order to correct an incorrect Increment Code, Anniversary Date or FIS salary, the Agency must submit a Job Request with an Action/Reason of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Change Increment Code, Anniversary Date, FIS Salary).

The Agency must submit all Longevity Payments in the pay period they are due

Eligibility

Employees are eligible for a Performance Advance if they have completed 100 workdays of service between 4/1 and 3/31 in each Fiscal year. Performance Advances are paid April 1 (Pay Period #1). If an employee does not have 100 workdays of service in his current grade, they may be due a Performance Advance in their former grade (if the salary at the former grade is not at the Job Rate).

For Performance Advances, service is determined by counting workdays from 4/1-3/31 of each Fiscal year. Sick leave at half pay is credited as one half day of service for each day. If an employee is not in full pay status, eligibility for a Performance Advance may change. When the employee is returned to the payroll, the workdays must be counted and the Increment Code changed as required.

For 10, 15, and 20-year Longevity payments, only time in the NYSCOPBA and Council 82 bargaining units counts as service. Only days of full pay status or paid leave (prorated as needed) are included as service. Each day out of service moves the eligibility date by one day. Although the Anniversary Date is not used for Performance Advances, the Anniversary Date can be used to track the service for Longevity Payments.

Anniversary Dates

Anniversary Dates are recommended to track the service for Longevity Payments.

Increment Codes

001X - Employee is eligible for a Performance Advance. The employee is below the Job Rate and will have 100 full workdays service in grade by April 1.

002X - Employee is at Longevity Step 2.

003X - Employee is not eligible for a Performance Advance.

• The employee will not have 100 full workdays service in grade by April 1, or
• Employee is at the Job Rate, or
• Employee is at Longevity Step 1.

004X - Employee has one Longevity Payment and salary is not at Longevity Step 1.

• FIS Salary is required.
• FIS is current salary plus Performance Advances if April Performance Advance is due.
• FIS is current salary if April Performance Advance is not due.

005X - Employee has two Longevity Payments and salary is not at Longevity Step 2.

• FIS Salary is required.
• FIS is current salary plus Performance Advances if April Performance Advance is due.
• FIS is current salary if April Performance Advance is not due.

0008 - Employee has three Longevity Payments and base salary is not at the Job Rate of the current grade.

• FIS Salary is required.
• FIS is current salary plus Performance Advances if April Performance Advance is due.
• FIS is current salary if April Performance Advance is not due.

0069 - Employee is receiving salary of higher grade due to abolishment of position prior to October 1971; and having base salary that is at or above the Job Rate of the abolished position; and receiving all Longevities.

0099 - Employee has three Longevity Payments and salary is at Longevity Step 3.

X = For Longevity Payment purposes, last digit of the year the employee is appointed. The X is the Fiscal Year that the 10, 15, or 20 year Longevity Payment will be paid.

After each Longevity Payment is paid, the last place (X) of the Increment Code must be changed to represent the next year the Longevity is payable. For example, before the 10 year Longevity Payment is paid in May 2004, the Increment Code is 0034. After it is paid, it will be 0039 to prepare for the next payment in 2009.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Salary Determination mailbox.