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State Agencies Bulletin No. 1440

Subject
2016 SEFA (State Employees Federated Appeal) Campaign
Date Issued
November 19, 2015

Purpose

To provide instructions for processing payroll deductions for the SEFA Campaign for the 2016 calendar year.

Affected Employees

All Employees

Effective Date(s)

Payroll deductions for the 2016 SEFA Campaign will begin:

Institution Paychecks dated January 7, 2016

Administration Paychecks dated January 13, 2016

SEFA Campaign Guidelines

The pre-printed Federated Fund Number which appears on the authorization card must be used as the Deduction Code. Cards that have been modified must be returned to the employee for completion of a new card.

The amount of deduction requested on the authorization card is the amount to be deducted from each paycheck in the calendar year, not the total amount of the pledge.

State Agencies cannot accept cash for the SEFA Campaigns. Checks made out to SEFA will be accepted.

Online Enrollment

Online enrollment established by the authorized federated community campaign (EarthShare) can be utilized for employees wishing to donate to the following deduction codes:

Deduction Code 851 – SEFA of NYC (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_nycsefa/)
Deduction Code 856 – SEFA of Broome, Chenango & Tioga (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_nyssefa/)
Deduction Code 865 – SEFA of Long Island (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_lisefa/)
Deduction Code 866 – SEFA of Greater Rochester (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_nyssefa/)
Deduction Code 880 – SEFA of Sullivan/Ulster County (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_nyssefa/) 
Deduction Code 885 – SEFA of Chautauqua County (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_chautauquasefa/)
Deduction Code 887- SEFA of Central NY (https://www.giveattheoffice.org/_nyssefa/)

Employees are encouraged to initiate the deduction with the online enrollment process.

For employees without computer access, or who choose not to use the online enrollment process, paper forms are available at the agency payroll office. Online enrollment will not be available after EarthShare submits the transactions to OSC (December 22, 2015).

Questions concerning the online enrollment process for these deduction codes should be directed to Sheila O’Connor of EarthShare at (646) 380-1887, or by email to [email protected].

Agency Actions

The following instructions apply to agencies that are not currently customers of the NYS Business Services Center (BSC). For those agencies that are customers of the BSC, the BSC will provide you with specific instructions on the agency and BSC responsibilities for processing the SEFA pledge cards.

For employees not enrolling online:

  • Agencies must review the completed authorization card and verify the completeness, accuracy and legibility of the Federated Fund Number, Amount of Deduction, Employee’s Agency Code, Employee’s NYS Emplid and Name.
  • Agencies are required to enter 2016 Federated Fund (SEFA) transactions into PayServ on the General Deduction Data (Agency) page, using the following instructions:
    1. After logging into PayServ, access the General Deduction Data (Agency) page.
    2. Enter the NYS Emplid from the authorization card in the EmplID field of the dialog box and click Search.
    3. The employee’s General Deduction page appears. Select View All.
    4. Determine whether the employee already has a deduction record for the specific Federated Fund Number on the authorization card by scrolling through the Deduction Codes using the scroll bar.
      • If a record with the same Federated Fund (SEFA) Deduction Code exists, select the + sign to add a new row in the Deduction Details page, insert a row and continue with Step 6.
      • If there is not an existing row for the Federated Fund (SEFA) Deduction Code, select the + sign to add a new row in the General Deduction page, insert a row and continue with Step 5.
    5. Deduction Code - Enter the Deduction Code (Federated Fund Code) indicated on the SEFA authorization card.
    6. Effective Date - Enter the effective date for the 2016 deduction to begin as follows:
      Institution (Lag) 12/10/15
      Administration (Lag) 12/17/15
      Institution (Current) 12/24/15
      Administration (Current) 12/31/15
    7. Deduction Calculation Routine – Select Flat Amount from the drop down box.
    8. Deduction End Date – An end date must be entered. OSC will end date all SEFA deductions with no end date or an end date that is not valid effective in the first paycheck of 2016.
      For Administration employees, the following end dates must be entered:
      Administration (Lag) 12/14/16
      Administration (Current) 12/28/16
      For Institution employees, the following end dates must be entered:
      Institution (Lag) 12/07/16
      Institution (Current) 12/21/16
    9. Flat/Addl. Amount – Enter the amount to be deducted from each biweekly paycheck, not the total amount to be deducted for the campaign.
    10. Save the transaction.

The Goal Amount field should not be used when entering SEFA transactions (see Exception below).

If an employee has a Goal Amount/Goal Balance in the existing record and the agency enters a transaction for 2016, the Goal Amount and Goal Balance will roll up on the newly inserted row unless the Goal Amount and Goal Balance are equal. Agencies must delete the Goal Amount and Goal Balance on the 2016 row and then save the transaction.

Exception:If a participant chooses to elect other than the full year (26 pay periods), the agency must enter the total amount of the annual contribution in the Goal Amount field as well as the flat amount to be deducted biweekly. The appropriate effective and end dates must still be used as outlined above.

Federated Fund (SEFA) Codes

The Federated Fund (SEFA) Code Listing is available in numeric and alphabetic order.

Please note the following changes:

Delaware and Otsego counties are included in SEFA of Delaware/Otsego (894), not SEFA of Central New York as previously informed.

Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Warren, and Washington counties are now included in SEFA of the Capital Region (850).

Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans, Wayne, and Wyoming counties are now included in SEFA of Greater Rochester (866).

Jefferson and Lewis counties have been combined into SEFA of Jefferson/Lewis County (864).

Sullivan and Ulster counties have been combined into SEFA of Sullivan/Ulster County (880).

Changes

Employees who want to change a Federated Fund (SEFA) deduction may do so by completing a new authorization card. A payroll general deduction transaction should then be processed to change the deduction.

Transfers

OSC automatically continues Federated Fund (SEFA) deductions upon an employee’s transfer from one agency to another within the same payroll record. It is necessary to obtain a new authorization card only if the employee wants to contribute to a different Federated Fund (SEFA) organization in the new agency.

Cancellations

To cancel a Federated Fund (SEFA) deduction, the agency must insert a new row using the beginning date of the pay period in which the deduction should be canceled as the effective and deduction end dates. Cancellation notices must be retained by the agency.

Questions

Questions regarding the online enrollment process may be directed to Sheila O’Connor of EarthShare at (646) 380-1887, or by email to [email protected].

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