State Agencies Bulletin No. 1452

Subject
December 2015 Minimum Wage Increase for Hourly Employees
Date Issued
December 23, 2015

Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the December 2015 minimum wage increases for hourly employees and provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Employees in hourly positions who meet the eligibility criteria

Background

Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2013 increased the New York State minimum wage for employees in non-governmental positions. The Director of the Budget establishes the pay rate for State seasonal and other non-statutory positions paid using an hourly rate.

In accordance with the following bulletins the minimum hourly wage is being increased as noted:

Division of the Budget Bulletin G-1035 (issued May 15, 2014) authorizes the minimum hourly wage be increased for seasonal and other non-statutory positions to $9.00 in December 2015.

City University of New York Personnel Policy Bulletin dated December 19, 2013, the minimum pay for the title Student Aide is being increased to $9.00 in December 2015.

Division of the Budget Bulletin G-1036 (issued December 18, 2015) authorizes the minimum hourly wage be increased for seasonal and other non-statutory positions to $10.50 for State employees whose job location is within the five boroughs of New York City (NYC) or $9.75 for State employees in all other job locations excluding employees of the City University of New York (CUNY), of the State University of New York (SUNY) or of the State University Construction Fund. These employees will receive the increase authorized by Budget Bulletin G-1035.

Effective Date(s)

The December 2015 minimum wage increase for hourly employees will be processed using the following effective dates and check dates:

Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type Effective Date Check Date
Administration 21 Current 12/31/2015 01/13/2016
Administration 21 Lag 12/31/2015 01/27/2016
Administration Extra Lag 01/07/2016 02/10/2016
Institution 21 Current 01/07/2016 01/21/2016
Institution 21 Lag 01/07/2016 02/04/2016
Institution Extra Lag 12/31/2015 02/04/2016

Eligibility Criteria

Employees with a Pay Basis Code of HRY on or after the appropriate effective date and an hourly rate less than the amount provided on the chart below.

Agency Minimum Hourly Wage
CUNY $9.00
SUNY $9.00
Other (job location outside of NYC) $9.75
Other (job location in NYC) $10.50*

* The increase to $10.50 for employees in NYC will not be automatically processed. The rate of all eligible employees in departments other than CUNY or SUNY will be increased automatically to $9.75 and it is agency responsibility to process the additional increase to $10.50 for eligible employees (see Agency Actions).

OSC Actions

OSC will process the December 2015 minimum wage increase as follows:

  • If the employee meets the eligibility criteria and has a Payroll Status of Active on the appropriate effective date, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the appropriate effective date and Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) and will increase the employee’s hourly rate to the appropriate rate as indicated on the above chart.
  • If the employee meets the eligibility criteria but has a Payroll Status of Terminated, Retired or Leave of Absence on the appropriate effective date and returns to Active status in an eligible position in Institution Pay Period 21 or Administration Pay Period 21 but after the appropriate effective date, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the effective date of the Rehire or Return from Leave action and the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) and will increase the employee’s hourly rate to the appropriate rate as indicated on the above chart.
  • If the employee is newly hired or transfers into an eligible position in Institution Pay Period 21 or Administration Pay Period 21 but after the appropriate effective date, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the effective date of the Hire, Position Change or Transfer action and the Action/Reason code or Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) and will increase the employee’s hourly rate to the appropriate rate as indicated on the above chart.
  • OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) for all subsequent rows provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

Agency Actions – Beginning Institution Pay Period 22 or Administration Pay Period 22 for Employees in NYC

Agencies must process the additional increase to $10.50 for eligible employees whose job location is in NYC.

Agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code CRT (Chg Rate) using the appropriate effective date as indicated on the above chart.

Agencies must update all subsequent effective dated rows provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

Agencies that use the New York State Electronic Personnel System (NYSTEP) for compensation adjustments, however, must enter these adjustments through NYSTEP if the rate frequency of the position is less than the appropriate amount indicated on the chart above. Further, agencies should ensure that the employee’s job location is accurate in NYSTEP, especially for those individuals whose job location is in New York City.

Note: If an employee’s job location changes to a location with a different minimum wage in effect, the agency must update the employee’s rate to reflect the appropriate rate for the new location.

Questions

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