State Agencies Bulletin No. 666

Subject
Arbitration Award Implementation of Twenty-Five Year Longevity Payments for Employees Represented by NYSCOPBA (BU01) and Council 82 ALES (BU31) for 2003 - 2006
Date Issued
October 31, 2006

Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing of the twenty-five (25) year Longevity Payments and to provide agencies with instructions for making future payments.

Affected Employees

Arbitration-eligible Department of Corrections employees represented by NYSCOPBA (BU01) in the following titles:

  • Correction Officer
  • Correction Officer Spanish Language
  • Correction Officer Trainee
  • Correction Officer Trainee Spanish Language
  • Correction Sergeant
  • Community Correctional Center Assistant
  • Institution Safety Officer

Arbitration-eligible employees represented by Council 82 (BU31) in the following titles:

  • Environmental Conservation Officer Trainee 1
  • Environmental Conservation Officer Trainee 1 Spanish Language
  • Environmental Conservation Officer Trainee 2
  • Environmental Conservation Officer Trainee 2 Spanish Language Environmental Conservation Officer
  • Environmental Conservation Officer Spanish Language
  • Supervising Environmental Conservation Officer
  • Environmental Conservation Investigator 1
  • Environmental Conservation Investigator 2
  • Park Patrol Officer Trainee
  • Park Patrol Officer Trainee Spanish Language
  • Park Patrol Officer
  • Park Patrol Officer Spanish Language
  • University Police Officer 1
  • University Police Officer 1 Spanish Language
  • University Police Officer 2
  • University Police Investigator 1
  • University Police Investigator 2

Background

Pursuant to Chapter 113 of the Laws of 2006 which implements the Arbitration Award between New York State and the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) and Chapter 114 of the Laws of 2006 which implements the Arbitration Award between New York State and Council 82 Agency Law Enforcement Services (BU31) and provides eligible employees a twenty-five (25) year Longevity step effective beginning April 1, 2003.

Effective Date(s)

Twenty-five (25) year Longevity Payments will be processed for Council 82 employees in Pay Period 15L paychecks dated 11/15/06 (Administration) and 16L paychecks dated 11/22/06 (Institution).

Twenty-five (25) year Longevity Payments for NYSCOPBA employees will be processed in Pay Period 16L paychecks dated 11/22/06 (Institution) and 11/29/06 (Administration).

Eligibility

Beginning April 1, 2003, Arbitration-eligible employees in the titles listed above who have reached twenty-five (25) years in Security service are eligible to receive a twenty-five (25) year Longevity step.

Employees who reached twenty-five (25) years in Security prior to 3/27/03 (Administration) or 4/3/03 (Institution) are eligible to receive the twenty-five (25) year Longevity step on 3/27/03 (Administration) or 4/3/03 (Institution).

Employees who became eligible after 3/27/03 (Administration) or 4/3/03 (Institution) are eligible to receive the twenty-five (25) year Longevity step on the first day of the pay period following the date twenty-five (25) years of service is reached.

All service in Bargaining Units 01, 31 and 61 counts toward the twenty-five (25) years and all other Security eligibility rules remain in effect.

OSC Actions

Twenty-Five Year Longevity Processing

After payroll processing for Pay Period 15L (Administration) and 16L ( Administration and Institution) are completed, OSC will automatically insert rows in the Job Data records of eligible employees to reflect the twenty-five (25) year Longevity step on the date that the employee becomes eligible for payment. OSC will automatically process all payments from 3/27/03 (Administration) or 4/03/03 (Institution) up to and including the current pay period for each employee.

OSC will insert a row to pay the Longevity increases using the Action/Reason codes PAY/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Payment).

For the above employees, OSC will update all subsequent Job rows as necessary, regardless of status, using the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).

New Increment Codes

OSC has created new increment codes to be used for employees who are projected to reach or have reached the twenty-five (25) year Longevity step.

007X To be used for employees with three (3) longevities whose salary is less than Job Rate of their grade.
008X To be used for employees with three (3) longevities whose salary is equal to Job Rate of their grade.
0099 To be used for employees with four (4) longevities whose salary is equal to Job Rate of their grade.
9900 To be used for employees with four (4) longevities whose salary is less than Job Rate of their grade.

OSC is currently revising increment code procedures for Security employees and will be issuing a payroll bulletin in the future.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive payments resulting from the above increases. For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid from more than one (1) Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, the retroactive adjustment for earnings in each Employee Record Number will be paid in the most current agency, on the appropriate pay cycle, under each Employee Record Number.

Retroactive Adjustments for Additional Pay and Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earn codes that are calculated based on an employee’s additional salary factors such as overtime (OTA) and holiday (HPA) will be automatically adjusted.

Pre-Shift Briefing (PS1) paid in Additional Pay will also be automatically adjusted due to the above increases.

Agency Actions

Beginning in the appropriate Pay Period following the automatic processing of (25) year Longevity Payments, agencies must submit future twenty-five (25) year Longevity Payments as employees become eligible.

Agencies also must report the appropriate increment codes as stated above.

Control-D Report

The following Control-D report will be available after processing of the automatic increases:

NHRP704 Mass Salary Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the Longevity Payment. The report identifies the employee’s last salary that was automatically increased in an eligible bargaining unit. Other fields on the report include the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason and Increment Code.

Deduction Information

All general deductions for employees whose status is Terminated, Retired or Deceased will be automatically cancelled by OSC with the exception of the following:

Code Narrative
410 Health Care Spending Account
420 NY Dependent Care Contribution
425 Repay State Loans/Debt
426 Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428 Dependent Care
433 Total Unemployment Ins Owed
500 Medicare Deficiency
501 Social Security Deficiency
GARNSH Garnishments
HIATRG Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP Special After Tax Health Adj
HIBTRG Regular Before Tax Health
HIBTSP Special Before Tax Health Adj

Undeliverable Checks

Inactive employees may be eligible for a payment as a result of the salary adjustment. If the agency has made an effort to deliver the check to the employee but the check has been returned and is undeliverable, the agency should forward the check to the NYS Department of Tax and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 456.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P) and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P).

For recipients of a previously deceased employee's payroll checks where a Next of Kin Affidavit and Report of Check Exchange form have been submitted, OSC will accept a photocopy of these forms to process the exchange of the check.

Questions

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