Purpose

To inform agencies of procedures for reporting salary increases for affected employees.

Affected Employees

Unrepresented employees in Bargaining Units 86 and 88 who had an increase in salary deferred effective 3/29/12 or later

Effective Date(s)

Paychecks dated 1/30/13, Administration Pay Period 21L

Background

Pursuant to Chapter 276 of the Laws of 2008 and the 2007-2010 Agreements between the Unified Court System of the State of New York (UCS) and various unions, increases in basic annual salary for employees earning $115,000 or more were deferred pending a salary increase for justices of the Supreme Court or until 3/31/11.Salary Increases for unrepresented employees in Bargaining Units 86 and 88 were also deferred.

Pursuant to the Chief Administrative Judge in consultation with the UCS Administrative Board, effective 3/29/12, the basic annual salary of affected unrepresented employees in Bargaining Units 86 and 88 must be restored and an adjustment paid retroactive to the effective date of the increase.

Agency Actions

In Pay Period 21L, agencies must submit Job Action Request transactions to process salary restorations for affected employees in Bargaining Units 86 and 88.

For all rows in the employee’s record that have a PAY/CSD row effective 3/29/12 or later, agencies must request a Pay Change with the Action/Reason code of PAY/ECD (Pay Rate Change/End Court Deferral) using the next available sequence number. A separate request must be made for each of the subsequent rows that exist on the employee’s Job Data page. The compensation amount from the Job Data row prior to the PAY/CSD row must be submitted on the PAY/ECD row for graded employees.

The compensation amount for ungraded (560) employees must be submitted pursuant to the Salary Approval Letter from UCS to OSC.

OSC Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular pay and certain miscellaneous payments resulting from the salary restorations.

Retroactive Adjustments for Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earnings codes that are calculated by the payroll system based on an employee’s salary rate and additional salary factors such as Lump Sum Payments, Lost Time, Overtime and Holiday Pay will be adjusted automatically. All payments made using an override code or submitted using an amount must be manually adjusted.

Retroactive Adjustments for Employees Who Have an Outstanding Overpayment

• For employees who are Inactive or on a Leave of Absence at the end of Pay Period 21L, the retroactive adjustment will be applied to any overpayment set up in the Additional Pay page that has a Goal Amount and Goal Balance that are not equal. The payroll system will determine the difference between the Goal Amount and Goal Balance and will recover the difference from the employee’s check and update the Goal Balance. If the amount of the positive earnings is not sufficient to recover the entire overpayment, the system will deduct the amount of positive earnings possible and update the Goal Balance accordingly.
• For employees who are Active or on a Paid Leave of Absence at the end of Pay Period 21L, the payroll system will recover the amount stated in the Earnings field or an amount equal to the difference between the Goal Balance and the Goal Amount, whichever is less. If the check is not sufficient to recover the amount determined by the system, the system will take the entire check. Note: The agency may wish to increase the Earnings amount in order to recover a greater amount or the full amount of the outstanding overpayment.

Employees Who Have Worked in More Than One Agency

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency and have been paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the restoration, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency and have been paid from more than one Employee Record Number since the effective date of the restoration, the retroactive adjustments for earnings in each Employee Record Number will be paid in the most current agency under each Employee Record Number.

OSC Actions: Recalculation of Military Stipends

For employees who were placed on paid or unpaid Military Stipend Leave on or after 3/29/12 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 page by inserting a 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 will be reported by OSC in the Time Entry page using the Earnings Code AMS (Adjust Military Stipend).

For those who did not receive a stipend but became eligible for a stipend because of the salary restoration, OSC will take the necessary action on the Job Data and/or Time Entry page to pay the required increase.

Agency Actions for Retroactive Processing

Time Entry earnings submitted with an amount or an override code effective on or after 3/29/12 will not be automatically adjusted. Therefore, the agency must report the adjustment in the Time Entry page.

Additional Information and Procedures Regarding Retroactive Processing

• If an employee had a check returned or exchanged on an AC 230 for dates on or after 3/29/12, the agency must review the retroactive adjustment for that employee, as the system does not consider AC 230s when processing retroactive adjustments. Therefore, the agency must report an adjustment of earnings.
• If an employee received earnings on an AC 39 (Typewritten Payroll) prepared by OSC for earnings on or after 3/29/12, the agency must submit an adjustment for all earnings paid on the typewritten payroll.
• For employees who had a Job Action change reported on or after 3/29/12 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 was recovered using an overpayment earnings code or an AC 230. In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the automatic restorations 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 necessary.
• If RGS was previously submitted using a date range that exceeds the number of days reported the system will calculate the adjustment of earnings based on the number of workdays within the range. Therefore, the agency must report an adjustment to reduce the automatic retroactive adjustment.

Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as overtime, will be calculated incorrectly if the dates previously reported as a single entry on the Time Entry page overlap the effective date of a salary increase. The system will calculate an adjustment for all earnings reported in the single entry using the salary in effect on the end date of the entry. Therefore, the agency must submit the necessary adjustment to reduce the automatic payment.

Agency Actions: Reporting Adjustments in the Time Entry Page

Agencies must use the Earn Code AJR (Adjust Raise) on the Time Entry page to report all retroactive changes due to the implementation of the salary restorations that are not calculated automatically.

Control-D Report

Control-D report NHRP704 (Mass Salary Increase Report) will be available after all processing is completed. The report identifies all employees who received a salary increase and each salary that was increased in an eligible bargaining unit.

Deduction Information

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

Undeliverable Checks

Inactive employees may be eligible for a payment as a result of the salary restoration. 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’s Paycheck/Advice

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

Questions

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