CUNY Bulletin No. CU-579

Subject
2017 Professional Staff Congress (PSC) General Salary Increase
Date Issued
February 22, 2017

Purpose

To inform agencies of raise eligibility and automatic processing and to provide agencies with the procedures for reporting certain salary increases.

Affected Employees

Annual and Hourly PSC employees in Bargaining Units AJ, GA, TC, T8, CA, CB, and CE who meet the eligibility criteria

Background

Pursuant to Memorandum of Agreement between the City University of NY and the PSC for the Term of 10/20/2010 – 11/30/2017.  CUNY Board of Trustees approved the Agreement during the June 27, 2016 Board meeting.

Effective Date(s)

The General Salary Increase is effective 04/20/2017 and will be processed in Institution Pay Period 02C, paycheck dated 04/27/2017

Eligibility Criteria

All full and part-time employees meeting the eligibility criteria who are Active or on Paid Leave in Bargaining Units AJ, GA, TC, T8, CA, CB, and CE shall receive a General Salary Increase of 1.5% effective 04/20/2017 rounded to the nearest dollar for salaried employees or the nearest cent for hourly employees (.5 rounds up, less than .5 rounds down). Eligible employees in leave without pay status will receive the increase upon return from leave.

Increases will be applied in accordance with the eligibility criteria set by the CUNY University Office of Labor Relations.

Agency Actions Overpayments, AC230 Prior to Pay Period 2C

CUNY must review all overpayments (Q06 – Q16) to determine if overpayments will be recovered correctly for active or inactive employees.  Overpayments set up on inactive records may need to be ended and set up on an active record for an employee.

Actions – Prior to Pay Period 2C

CUNY is responsible for calculating and submitting increases for employees in the groups identified below. All employees are eligible for the new minimum salary or hourly rate, if the calculated salary or hourly rate is below the new minimum rate in effect.

The following Action/Reason codes must be used to report the increases.

For salaried employees:

  • To report increases effective 04/20/2017, the Action/Reason code of PAY/SIC must be used.
  • To report increases on subsequent rows, the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL must be used.

For Hourly employees:

  • To report increases effective 04/20/2017, the Action/Reason code of PAY/SIC must be used.
  • To report increases on subsequent rows, the Action/Reason code of PAY/CRT must be used.
Spreadsheets provided to CUNY for Groups A and C Off Step employees:

OSC will provide spreadsheets to CUNY on 03/16/2017 to be returned from CUNY on 03/30/2017. The spreadsheets will include:

  • Employee Id
  • Empl Record Number
  • Name
  • Effective Date
  • Effective Sequence
  • Employment Status  (A,P,L,T,R,D)
  • Department Id / Agency - job
  • Action Code - job
  • Action Reason Code - job
  • Action Stamp - job
  • NY Bargaining Unit - position
  • NYS Jobcode –position
  • Title Description [from Jobcode Table] 
  • Sal admin plan - position
  • Pay Basis Code - position
  • Comp Rate [from Compensation row]
  • New Reason Code
  • New Comp Rate

CUNY will review the spreadsheets, enter the appropriate salary information for each employee record and effective dated row onto the spreadsheets using the appropriate Action/Reason code and then return the completed spreadsheets to OSC by 03/30/2017. OSC will load the spreadsheets into PayServ to implement the general salary increases.

Group A Exceptions: Annual Salary with Steps with Additional Compensation

OSC will provide a spreadsheet to CUNY on 03/16/2017 with employees identified with off step rows. CUNY will return the completed spreadsheet to OSC by 03/30/2017 to be loaded into PayServ.

  • The agency must complete the spreadsheet provided by OSC for employees who are not on step due to REM, SAB or RRI.
    • Employees whose salary includes Recruitment/Retention Initiative (RRI) monies are eligible only for an increase to the base salary of their position.
    • Employees whose salary includes Salary Above Base (SAB) monies are eligible to receive a percentage increase applied to their current salary.
    • Employees whose salary includes Distinguished Stipend in addition to the Salary Above Base (SAB) – there is no increase to the stipend rate ($28,594).

Employees in REM positions (HEO/Asst Admin (016855) and Prof/Asst Admin (016839)) are eligible only for an increase to the base salary. These items will not be identified on the spreadsheet, they will need to be adjusted manually by CUNY.

Group B Exceptions:  Annual PBC with salary ranges (no steps)

OSC will apply the general salary increase percentages to all employees in this Group. Due to select eligibility criteria in accordance with CUNY University Office of Labor Relations, there may be exceptions to the automatic processing. For example, if an employee is hired on or after 4/20/2016 into a title with a salary range without steps, they are not entitled to general percent increase on the next contractual increase (unless they’re below the new minimum for the range). Ex: a Research Associate hired on 12/24/2016 at $80,000 would not be entitled to the 4/20/2017 salary increase of 1.5% unless hiring rate is below the new minimum.

Group C Exceptions: Pay Basis Hourly with steps

OSC will provide a spreadsheet to CUNY on 03/16/2017 with employees identified with off step rows. CUNY will return the completed spreadsheet to OSC by 03/30/2017 to be loaded into PayServ.

Group D1 Exceptions: Pay Basis Hourly without Steps

Transactions will be entered manually by CUNY for all eligible employees in Job Codes 016017, 016018, 016019, 021070, 021071, & 020172. This can be done by using the appropriate Action/Reason codes listed above.

  • Increases will be applied in accordance with the eligibility criteria set by the CUNY University Office of Labor Relations as follows:

Hourly Employees on Schedules Without Steps: (for determination of eligibility toward the 04/20/2017 salary increase: service for hourly titles on schedules without steps other than CET; however, the CET service does count toward the eligibility determination for these titles.)

  • In order for an hourly employee serving in a title with no step schedule to be eligible for the 4/20/2017 increase, the employee must be active on 4/20/2017 and 4/19/2017, and have received pay as an Adjunct Medical Lecturer, or in an Adjunct Law School title, or in a JEMBA Adjunct or Non-Teaching Adjunct title, or as a Continuing Education Teacher any time between 04/20/2016 and 4/19/2017.

If the hourly employee serving in a title with no step schedule is hired on or after 4/20/2017, the employee should be placed on or above the minimum in effect on 4/20/2017.

Agency Actions – Time Entry Processing Pay Period 2C

For earnings that will be automatically adjusted by the system such as RGH and RGS, agencies must split the Time Entry transactions 04/13/2017-04/19/2017 and 04/20/2017-04/26/2017 in order to avoid payment errors. If the transactions are not split, the system will adjust all earnings based on the salary rate in effect on the earnings end date.

OSC Actions – Group A

Group A Pay Basis Annual with Steps
  • Full-Time Annual Salaried employees in Status A or P on or after 4/20/2017 will have their current annual salary increased from the 04/20/2016 chart to the corresponding step of the 4/20/2017 salary chart.
  • OSC will update all subsequent rows with the salary that corresponds to the new step on the 4/20/2017 salary chart as long as the employee remains in an eligible bargaining unit and title is on a step on the Sal Plan.
  • OSC will repeat this process for each subsequent salary increase effective date
  • OSC will provide a spreadsheet to CUNY on 03/16/2017 with employees identified with off step rows. CUNY will return the completed spreadsheet to OSC by 03/30/2017 to be loaded into PayServ.

OSC Actions – Group B

Group B Pay Basis Annual with salary ranges (no steps)
  • All eligible employees in Group B will have their current annual salary increased by the general salary increase percentage effective 4/20/2017.  If an employee becomes active after 04/20/2017, and is paid at or above the new minimum of the range, then the employee is not eligible for a percentage increase on subsequent rows.
  • Due to certain eligibility criteria set by the CUNY University Office of Labor Relations, certain employees in this Group may not be eligible for each general salary increase percentage (as noted in the Agency Actions section above).

OSC Actions – Group C

Group C Pay Basis Hourly with steps
  • Part-Time Hourly employees in Status A or P on or after 4/20/2017 will have their current annual salary increased from the 04/20/2016 chart to the corresponding step of the 4/20/2017 salary chart.
  • OSC will update all subsequent rows with the salary that corresponds to the new step on the 4/20/2017 salary chart as long as the employee remains in an eligible bargaining unit and title is on a step on the Sal Plan.
  • OSC will provide a spreadsheet to CUNY on 03/16/2017 with employees identified with off step rows. CUNY will return the completed spreadsheet to OSC by 03/30/2017 to be loaded into PayServ.

OSC Actions – Group D2

Group D #2- Continuing Ed Teachers

Employees in hourly positions in Job Codes 016038 and 016039 in BU CE. OSC will programmatically implement the retroactive general salary increases as follows:

Note: if new salary is below the new minimum, then the salary will be increased to the new minimum.

4/20/17 – 1.5% Increase

If CET is ACTIVE on 4/19/2017 and 4/20/2017, apply 1.5% to the rate in effect as of 4/19/2017.

If CET is NOT ACTIVE as a CET on 4/19/2017 and 4/20/2017, but becomes active as a CET on or after 4/20/2017, determine if the employee had previous service as a CET between 4/20/2016 and 4/19/2017, and then follow the applicable procedure (a) or (b) below to determine the 2017 increase.

  1. If no previous service as a CET between 4/20/2016 and 4/19/2017, the employee is due no increase, unless the rate is less than the 4/20/2017 CET or CLIP minimum.    If the rate is less than the 4/20/17 CET or CLIP minimum, raise the rate to the 4/20/2017 CET or CLIP minimum.
  2. If has previous service as a CET between 4/20/2016 and 4/19/2017, the employee is eligible to receive the 1.5% increase.  (Clarification scenario: if rehired 4/20/2016, or later and had prior service within look back period – apply 1.5% to rehire salary – if adjusted salary is greater than the new minimum – then this is the new rehire salary.  If the adjusted salary is less than the new minimum, then raise salary to the new minimum and this is the adjusted rehire salary.)

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available after processing of the automatic salary increases:

NHRP704 Mass Salary Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the General Salary Increase. The report identifies all rows where the employee’s salary was automatically increased in an eligible bargaining unit. Other fields on the report include the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part Time Percentage, Action Reason and Increment Code.

Tax Information

These monies are taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are subject to all employment taxes and income taxes. The monies will be reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

Questions

Questions about eligibility for Professional Staff Congress increases may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.

Questions regarding PSC salary increase transactions may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

Questions regarding Deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.

Questions regarding Taxes should be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.