State Agencies Bulletin No. 1148

Subject
Retroactive April 2011 $500.00 Longevity Payments for Long-Term Seasonal Employees Represented by CSEA and PEF
Date Issued
March 29, 2012

Purpose

To provide agency procedures to process retroactive Longevity Payments and adjustments for overtime payments.

Affected Employees

Certain seasonal hourly employees in the Department of Environmental Conservation (09180) and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (49xxx) who met the eligibility criteria and are in Bargaining Units 02, 03, 04 and 05 represented by CSEA and PEF

Background

Chapter 10 and Chapter 114 of the Laws of 2008 provide for $500.00 Longevity Payments for long-term seasonal employees who meet the eligibility criteria stated below. The Longevity Payments are effective the first pay period of the fiscal year. If the employee is not Active in the first pay period of the fiscal year, the Longevity Payment is effective upon the employee’s return to the payroll, provided the employee returns within the fiscal year.

Effective Date(s)

Payments may be submitted for paychecks dated 4/19/12 Institution Extra Lag (09180) and 4/25/12 Administration Extra Lag (49xxx)

Contract Provisions and Eligibility Criteria

Employees who were Active on the effective date of payment in a BU 02, 03, 04, or 05 seasonal hourly position in Agency 48xxx or 09180 and had at least 1,500 hours in pay status as a seasonal employee in each of the previous (5) calendar years in either of these agencies are eligible for a $500.00 Longevity Payment.

For seasonal employees who were not Active on the effective date of payment but become Active in a seasonal hourly position within the fiscal year and otherwise met the eligibility criteria stated above, the payment is effective the date of the return to the payroll.

Agency Actions

Agencies must submit the Retroactive 2011 Longevity Payments for eligible employees and adjustments for overtime worked since the effective date of the payment.

The following procedure must be used when reporting the retroactive 2011 Longevity Payment of $500.00 on the Additional Pay page:

Earnings Code: LPS
Effective Date: 4/7/11 (49xxx) , 3/28/11 (09180) or the date the employee returned to the payroll
OT Effective Date: Same as Effective Date*
Annual Additional Earnings: $500.00
End Date: Leave Blank*
Goal Balance: Leave Blank

If an employee is eligible for both the 2011 and 2012 Seasonal Longevity Payment, the agency must insert the 2011 row on the Additional Pay page before entering the 2012 row.

*The End Date field may be left blank because the system will not include the earnings in the overtime calculations for hourly employees. Agencies must use the procedure as stated in the section below to report any adjustments to overtime.

The agency must use the following procedure when reporting the Earn Code LAO (Longevity Payment Adjustment) in the Time Entry page to adjust overtime payments for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

When the code is used, the system will determine the amount of the LAO by multiplying the number of hours reported by $.38.

Earnings Begin Date: Enter the first date of overtime to be adjusted
Earnings End Date: Enter the last date of overtime to be adjusted
Earns Code: LAO
Hours: Enter the number of overtime hours

If a seasonal employee has a position change or transfers into a non-season position (e.g. Pay Basis Code ANN) after the effective date of the LPS, the employee is not longer eligible for the Longevity Payment to be included in the calculation of overtime. Therefore, the agency must insert a row on the Additional Pay page as follows:

Earnings Code: LPS
Effective Date: Enter the last date the employee is eligible for the LPS in overtime calculation
OT Effective Date: Enter the original OT effective date
Annual Additional Earnings LPS amount will default in this field
Earnings End Date: Enter the last date the employee is eligible for the LPS in Overtime calculation
Goal Balance: Re-enter $500.00

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 Sate Loans/Dept
426 Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428 Dependent Care
433 Total Unemployment Ins Owed
500 Medicare Deficiency
501 Social Security Deficiency
502 NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
GARNISH Garnishments
HIATRG Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP Special After Tax Health Adj
HIATRG Regular Before Tax Health
HIBTSP Special Before Tax Health Adj

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.

Miscellaneous Payment Information

The payment is pensionable and must be used in the calculation of overtime worked within the fiscal year in which it became effective, provided the employee continues to remain in a seasonal position.

Payroll Register and Employee Paycheck/Advice

The Earnings Codes LPS and LAO will appear on the payroll register. The earnings code descriptions, Longevity Payment Seasonal and Longevity Adjustment Overtime, will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or deposit advice.

Questions

Questions may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.