Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Eligible employees in Bargaining Units 06, 34, 46, 66 and 79

Effective Date(s) and Payment Date(s)

Effective:

3/31/11 Administration
4/7/11 Institution

Paychecks dated:

12/15/11 - Institution Pay Period 17L
12/21/11 - Administration Pay Period 18L

Background

Chapter 491 of the Laws of 2011, Article 8, Section 131.6 of the Civil Service Law and the Division of the Budget Bulletin B-1197 issued 11/15/11 provide for the payment of Performance Advances to eligible M/C employees.

Performance Advance amounts will be based on the 2011 Salary Schedule.

Eligibility Criteria

Performance Advance Requirements

M/C graded or NS equated to grade (603-667) employees whose base annual salary is below the Job Rate of the employee’s current grade on the 4/1/11 Salary Schedule and employees who appear on an agency performance advance plan approved by the Division of the Budget (grade 668 or NS equated to grade 668 and NS non-grade equated) are eligible for a Performance Advance if the employee:

1. Has thirteen (13) complete pay periods of service in such grade between April 1, 2010 and March 31 2011; and
2. Performance advance is not approved to be withheld by Division of the Budget as recommended by the agency; and
3. Is in an annual position in an eligible bargaining unit and Active, on Paid Leave of Absence, or a Military Stipend Leave or Workers Compensation at the time of payment [the last day of Institution Pay Period 17L (11/30/11) or Administration Pay Period 18L (12/7/11)].

Withholds

If the agency determines that an M/C employee’s automatic Performance Advance should be withheld, the agency must request approval through the Division of the Budget per Bulletin B-1197. Prior to automatic payment processing in Institution Pay Period 17L and Administration Pay Period 18L, agencies may submit a Job Action Request using the Action/Reason code of DTA/PWH (Data Change/ Performance Advance Withheld) and enter Increment Code 0003 to withhold a Performance Advance for employees described above. OSC must be in receipt of the approved performance advance to be withheld listing from the Division of the Budget in order to process the transaction. If the agency does not submit a transaction to withhold the payment, OSC will enter the transaction.

OSC Actions

After payroll processing is completed for Institution Pay Period 17L and Administration Pay Period 18L, OSC will process Performance Advances for eligible graded and NS equated to grade employees who were Active, on a Paid Leave of Absence (except Sick Leave) or a Military Stipend Leave or on Workers’ Compensation Leave on 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution) and on the last day of Institution Pay Period 17L (11/30/11) or Administration Pay Period 18L (12/7/11).

Performance Advance (Increment Code 0001)

OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution) to reflect the Performance Advance (not to exceed the Job Rate) using the Action/Reason code of PAY/PAV (Pay Rate Change/Performance Advance).

OSC will automatically insert a row to update any eligible subsequent rows using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).

Promotion Recalculation (Increment Code 0004)

For employees who are entitled to a revised salary based on their FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary), OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution) to reflect the FIS amount displayed on the Job Data Compensation page using the Action/Reason code of PAY/PMR (Pay Rate Change/Promotion Recalculation). In addition, the FIS amount:

• Must be equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate;
• Must be greater than the employee’s current salary;
• Can exceed the Job Rate of the employee’s current grade.

OSC will automatically insert a row to update any eligible subsequent rows using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).

Transactions processed automatically will appear on the NHRP520, Daily Outbound Transaction file.

Automatic Update of Increment Codes

OSC will automatically update the Increment Codes, as appropriate, on the inserted rows for employees who receive a Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation. After the Performance Advances and Promotion Recalculations are processed, OSC will automatically insert a row on the Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of DTA/CIC (Data Change/ Correct Increment Code) effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution) as follows:

Current Code	Update to
0001	0001 if the new salary is below Job Rate 2011 if the new salary is equal to Job Rate
0003	0001 if the salary is equal to or greater than Hiring Rate and less than Job Rate
0004	0001 if the new salary is below Job Rate 2011 if the new salary is equal to or greater than Job Rate

Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

The following Control-D report will be available 11/18/11 (Institution) and 11/25/11 (Administration).  This will give agencies time to correct employees’ records, if necessary, before the automatic processing takes place.

NHRP708 Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

This report identifies employees who will not receive an automatic Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation based on information available at the close of Pay Period 26 for fiscal year 2010-11. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

• NYS Position has both equated grade and NTE
• Position and job do not match
• FIS missing
• FIS at or below current
• FIS below hiring rate

These messages are based on the employee’s increment code in effect on the payment effective date:

• Increment code missing
• Increment code invalid
• Sal below hiring rate
• Sal at or above job rate

If an employee appears on this report but is due a Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation the agency must:

• Submit the necessary corrections on the Job Action Request page to correct data on the incorrect Job row(s) using the appropriate Action/Reason code(s). After the row(s) is corrected, the automatic Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation will be applied.
• Submit a Position Change Request to the Earnings Section using the Position Management mailbox if the data on the Position Data page is incorrect in PayServ but is correct in NYSTEP. The position will be updated to reflect the change and the automatic Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation will be applied provided the agency’s position request contains the same information as the position information in NYSTEP.

Agency Actions in Institution Pay Period 17L and Administration Pay Period 18L

The following procedures must be used by the agency when submitting transactions in Institution Pay Period 17L and Administration 18L:

Time Entry

To report miscellaneous earnings that are automatically calculated by the system (i.e. overtime); agencies must separate earnings by pay period so the earnings will not overlap the effective date of the Pay Change.

Control-D Report Available After Processing

The following Control-D reports will be available for agency review after the automatic payments have been made. All reports will be sorted by agency code, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NHRP704 Mass Increment Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the automatic Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Effective Date, Effective Sequence, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason, Old Comprate, New Comprate and Increment Code.

Note: The report will include employees who were identified as having met the criteria on the payment effective date (3/31/11 Administration and 4/7/11 Institution) but who did not meet the eligibility criteria on the payment processing date (11/30/11 Institution and 12/7/11 Administration). The records of the employees were updated by inserting rows on the payment effective date using the following Action /Reasons:

• PAY/PAV (Pay Rate Change / Performance Advance) - increasing the salary in effect on the payment effective date by the appropriate performance advance amount not to exceed job rate of the grade.
• PAY/PWH (Pay Rate Change / Performance Advance Withheld) - reducing the salary to that in effect prior to the performance advance.

NHRP708 Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

This report identifies employees who did not receive an automatic Performance Advance or Promotion Recalculation. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Comprate, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

• NYS Position has both equated grade and NTE
• Position and job do not match
• FIS missing
• FIS at or below current
• FIS below hiring rate

These messages are based on the employees increment code in effect on the payment effective date:

• Increment code missing
• Increment code invalid
• Sal below hiring rate
• Sal at or above job rate

Agency Actions in Institution Pay Period 18L) and Administration Pay Period 19L

Employees Not Processed Automatically

Agencies must review the records of employees described below to determine eligibility for the 2011 performance advance and must enter a request on the Job Action Request page using the appropriate Action/Reason code of PAY/PAV (Pay Rate Change/Performance Advance), PAY/PMR (Pay Rate Change/Promotion Recalculation) or PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) as indicated:

• Eligible employees who were Inactive or were on Paid Sick Leave on 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution).
  • For employees on Paid Sick Leave, enter PAY/PAV or PAY/PMR effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution).
  • For employees Inactive on the effective date of payment and who return to the payroll and are in annual position in an eligible bargaining unit and Active, on Paid Leave of Absence, or a Military Stipend Leave or Workers Compensation at the time of payment or later, enter PAY/CSL effective the date of the return to the payroll.
• Employees in a composite position on the effective date of the payment (identified by increment code 2222)
  • Enter PAY/CSL effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution).
  • Update the salary and/or increment code information on the General Comments page.
• Employees whose prior position was downward reallocated (identified by increment code 0069)
  • Enter PAY/PAV effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution).
• Employees who, on or after the payment effective date, were in a trainee position (identified as grade 800)
  • Administrative trainees are rated at 26 week intervals. Refer to the Department of Civil Service Traineeship Memorandum to determine performance advance eligibility and amounts due.
  • Enter PAY/PAV effective the date the employee became eligible (26 week rating date).
  • Enter the rating on the General Comments page.
• Employees who, on the payment effective date, were in grade 668 or NS non grade equated or NS equated to grade 668 positions and appear on an NS performance advance plan approved by the Division of the Budget
  • OSC must be in receipt of the approved salary plan in order to process payment.
  • Enter PAY/PAV effective 3/31/11 (Administration) or 4/7/11 (Institution).

Update all subsequent rows using Action/Reason PAY/CSL, as appropriate.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive payments resulting from the April 2011 Performance Advance 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 increase, 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 Time Entry Earnings

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

The following Earn Codes will be adjusted automatically:
Extra Time (EXT), Holiday Pay (HPA), Holiday Pay 1.5 (HPB), Inconvenience Pay Full (IPF), Inconvenience Pay Part (IPP), Lump Sum Payment-Vacation (LSA), Lump Sum Payment-OT Accruals (LSB), Lump Sum Payment-Vol Reduct (LSH), Lost Time (LT1), MC Over 40 Hrs OT LSP (M40), OT for Annuals (OTA), OT Straight Rate for Annuals (OTB), Recall Overtime (RCL), Regular Pay Salary Employee (RGS), Standby MC (SBZ), Salary LSP Annuals (SLS)

Retroactive Payments for Employees Receiving Military Stipends

For employees who were placed on Military Stipend Leave with or without pay on or after the effective date of the increase as a result of new military orders, OSC will recalculate the amount of Military Stipend.

• For those who received a stipend, the increase in biweekly stipend will be updated on the Job Data record by inserting new row to reflect the new biweekly stipend amount. Any additional adjustment that is required due to the change in stipend that will not be calculated automatically by the retro process will be reported by OSC in the Time Entry page using the Earn Code AMS.
• For those who did not receive a stipend but became eligible for a stipend because of the increased salary, OSC will take the necessary action on the Job Data and/ or Time Entry pages to pay the required increases.

Agency Actions for Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

The following Time Entry and Additional Pay earnings will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, commencing in the pay period in which the Performance Advance is being processed, the agency may report the appropriate retroactive adjustments in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and the appropriate Earnings Begin and End Dates. An explanation of the adjustment must be included in the Time Entry comments or on the General Comments page.

• ADJ Adjustment
• AIF Adjust Inconvenience Pay
• AIP Adjust Inconvenience Pay Part
• BSA Back Salary Award
• ES2 Extra Service Amount
• EXO Extra Time Override
• FEE (adjust only if employee is paid based on a per diem rate)
• FRC Fee Retirement Credit (adjust only if employee is paid based on a per diem rate)
• LSI Lump Sum Payment Override
• LTO Lost Time Override
• OTO Overtime Override
• OTT Out of Title Overtime
• RGO Regular Salary Override
• SLO Salary Lump Sum Payment Override
• SOO Standby OT Override
• SOV Standby Override

Reporting An Adjustment When Automatic Retroactive Adjustment Is Incorrect

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the agency is responsible for identifying employees who meet these conditions and, if required, must submit the necessary adjustment of earnings in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and appropriate Begin and End Dates.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic Performance Advance payment is processed but before the paycheck is received by the employee, the employee must be notified of the overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.

• If an employee had a check returned or exchanged on an AC 230 for service dates on or after the effective date of the increase, the payroll system does not consider the AC 2030 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment. Therefore, the agency should review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine the amount of the adjustment to be reported.
• If an employee’s Pay Basis Code changed from HRY or ANN, the agency must review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine if it is correct. If the adjustment is not correct, the agency must report and adjustment of earnings.
• If an employee was paid on an AC 39 (Typewritten Payroll), the payroll system will not adjust the earnings processed on the AC 39. The agency must report the adjustment of earnings.
• For employees who had a Job Action or Additional Pay change reported since the effective date of the Performance Advance and the action reported resulted in an overpayment of earnings, the automatic negative retroactive adjustment may not have been processed because the overpayment was either not recoverable or recoverable using the overpayment earn code or the AC-230. In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the automatic increases are processed. OSC will manually turn off (not process) the automatic negative adjustment for these employees, since in most cases, the overpayment was either not recoverable or recovered using another method. The agency is responsible for reviewing employees who meet these conditions to determine if an additional adjustment is required.

OSC will provide a query to assist agencies in identifying employees whose retroactive adjustments have been previously turned off (not processed). Agencies should review the query results for these employees and report the additional adjustment, if required, on the Time Entry page using the Earn Code AJR.

Undeliverable Checks

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 forms have been submitted, OSC will accept a photocopy of these forms to process the exchange of the check.

Payroll Register and Employee Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the payroll register and the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions

Questions about Performance Advances and Increment Code updates may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

Questions about Deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deductions mailbox.