Purpose

To provide agencies instructions to process the rate increases and adjustments for miscellaneous earnings

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the title of Elevator Mechanic

Background

A Consent Determination has been entered and filed on December 14, 2017 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and the City Employees Union, Local 237, International Brotherhood of Teamsters for retroactive increases for employees in the title of Elevator Mechanic. This determination covers the period June 9, 2008 through September 24, 2020 and provides for five retroactive salary increases effective 12/17/2014, 09/17/2015, 09/17/2016, 09/17/2017, and 01/01/2018.

The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in the Carmelo Batista, Jr. memorandum dated May 15, 2018.

Effective Date(s)

The retroactive increases may be submitted in Pay Period 6C (Institution), paychecks dated June 21, 2018

Eligibility Criteria

General Wage Increase - CUNY employees represented by the City Employees Union, Local 237, International Brotherhood of Teamsters who are in the eligible title of Elevator Mechanic on or after the first effective date of the wage increases, 12/17/2014, are eligible for the retroactive rate increases.

Agency Actions – Rate Increases

Reporting the Rate Increases

To ensure all Job Action requests are submitted for each employee, the agency should submit requests in effective date order from oldest date to current date. For example, if appropriate, submit the 12/17/2014 Pay Change, followed by the 09/17/2015 Pay Change.

To increase the hourly rate(s), the agency must submit the following requests regardless of the employee’s status:

• For all rate increases, request a Pay Change with the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Chg/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) on the Job Action Request page, using the effective date of the appropriate increase, and submit the new hourly rate.
• A separate request must be made for each of the rows that exist on the employee’s Job Data page, using the next available sequence number.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments for All Miscellaneous Earnings

The agency must calculate and report the retroactive adjustment for all miscellaneous earnings.

The Time Entry Earnings Code AJR must be used to report the combined retroactive adjustment for all earnings. The agency must provide an explanation of the adjustment in the General Comments page or on a separate worksheet. If the agency uses a worksheet, the worksheet must be received in OSC’s Payroll Earnings mailbox by the submission deadline for Pay Period 6C.

The Earnings Code AJR must be reported as follows:

Agency Actions – Night Differential Increase

Effective 1/1/2018

• Regularly scheduled hours between 4:00 p.m. and midnight shall continue to be paid a night shift differential of fifteen percent (15%) of the straight time rate.
• Regularly scheduled hours between midnight and 8:00 a.m. shall be paid a night shift differential at the rate of time and one-half (1.5x) the straight hourly rate. At least one (1) hour must be worked in the applicable night shift window to be eligible for the night shift differential.

There shall be no pyramiding of premium rates. In instances where hours are eligible for more than one premium (e.g. overtime on a holiday or nightshift work on a weekend), only the hirer rate shall be paid.

OSC Actions

Processing Automatic Retroactive Adjustments

Provided the agency appropriately submits the applicable increases, OSC will automatically process the retroactive adjustments for all regular hours, RGH, and miscellaneous earnings, LSL, LT3 and PLB, paid to an employee regardless of the employee’s status. The agency should refer to the AJR procedure above to submit retroactive adjustments for all other miscellaneous earnings.

Deduction Information for Inactive Employees

All general deductions for employees whose Payroll Status is Terminated, Retired or Deceased will be automatically cancelled by OSC with the exception of percentage based union dues, agency shop fees, and the following:

Tax Information

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

The adjustment (AJR) is supplemental taxable wages, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and is subject to all employment and income taxes.

Federal, State and New York City income tax withholding will be calculated using the Aggregate method. Yonkers income tax withholding will be calculated using the Flat Rate method (1.61135% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate earnings code and the associated amount. The description of each earnings code and the associated amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice unless there are more than 13 earnings codes. For these employees, agencies should utilize Locked Query #49 to identify a complete list of all regular earnings and retroactive adjustments.

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. 908.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P), original death certificate, and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P).  If a Next of Kin Affidavit has been previously submitted for a deceased employee’s payroll check, OSC will accept a photocopy of this form along with a new Report of Check Exchange.

Questions

Questions regarding transactions may be emailed 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.