CUNY Bulletin No. CU-708

Subject
CUNY Retroactive Pay Rate Increases for High Pressure Plant Tender and Change to Shift Differential Pay
Date Issued
April 30, 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agency instructions for processing the CUNY retroactive pay rate increases for High Pressure Plant Tenders and to provide instructions on entering Shift Differential retroactive adjustments and new payments.

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the title of High Pressure Plant Tender are affected.

Background

A Consent Determination was entered and filed on January 29, 2021 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO for employees in the title High Pressure Plant Tender. The agreement is for the period of April 24, 2018 through May 23, 2022 and provides for increases to the hourly rates effective April 24, 2018, April 24, 2019, and August 24, 2020.

In addition, effective August 24, 2020, Shift Differential payments shall be converted to an hourly differential of $0.69 per hour for hours worked between 4:00 pm and 8:00 am as opposed to being paid at a rate of $5.49 per shift.

The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in a memorandum from Carmelo Batista, Jr. dated March 25, 2021.

Effective Dates

Increases may be submitted in Pay Period 4C (Institution), paychecks dated 05/20/2021. Rate increases are effective 04/24/2018, 04/24/2019, and 08/24/2020.

Retroactive adjustments to previously paid Shift Differentials may be entered in Pay Period 4C (Institution), paychecks dated 05/20/2021. The new calculation of Shift Differential is effective 08/24/2020.

Eligibility Criteria

CUNY employees in the title of High Pressure Plant Tender are eligible for the retroactive pay rate increases, adjustments to previously paid Shift Differential and the new calculation of Shift Differential pay when processing new payments.

OSC Actions

OSC will review the manually entered Job Action Requests and Shift Differential adjustments and approve salary increases based on the approved salary chart.

Agency Actions

Reporting the Rate Increases

To ensure the Job Data record is updated correctly for each employee, the agency should submit all Job Action Requests in effective date order from oldest date to current date.

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 row that exists on the employee’s Job Data page to update the employee’s rate of pay.

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 miscellaneous earnings, excluding overtime. When an adjustment is needed to COVID-19 overtime such as CVO, ARC must be used. When an adjustment is needed to non-COVID-19 related overtime, ARO must be entered. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin 1893 for more information. Agencies must continue to use AJR for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment as a result of a retro salary increase. 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 Audit Section by the agency deadline for Pay Period 4C.

Earnings Begin Date: Enter the first date to be adjusted.
Earnings End Date: Enter the last date to be adjusted.
Earnings Code: Enter AJR, ARC or ARO as appropriate.
Amount: Enter the total amount of the adjustment.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments for Shift Differential Payments

The agency must calculate and report the retroactive adjustment for all SD2 Time Entry Earnings paid with an effective date of 08/24/2020 or after.

The Time Entry Earnings Code ADJ must be used to report the retroactive adjustment for all SD2 earnings. The agency must provide an explanation of the adjustment in the General Comments page.

Earnings Begin Date: Enter the first date to be adjusted.
Earnings End Date: Enter the last date to be adjusted.
Earnings Code: Enter ADJ.
Amount: Enter the total amount of the adjustment.

Reporting New Shift Differential Payments

The agency must calculate and report all new Shift Differential payments effective 08/24/2020 or after using Time Entry Earnings Code SD7.

The Earnings Codes SD7 must be reported as follows:

Earnings Begin Date: Enter the first date to be paid.
Earnings End Date: Enter the last date to be paid.
Earnings Code: Enter SD7.
Hours: Enter the total amount of hours eligible for Shift Differential.
Amount: Enter the total amount of the Shift Differential owed. (# of hours * $0.69)

General Deductions

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

Code Description
403 CUNY 403(b)
406 Strike/Discip Fine
416 Deferred Comp
425 Repay State Loans/Debt
432 SED Tax Deferred Annuity
433 Total Unemployment Ins Owed
500 Medicare Deficiency
501 Social Security Deficiency
502 NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
678 CUNY Before Tax Arrears
679 CUNY After Tax Arrears
680 CUNY Suspense BTax Arrears
GARNSH Garnishments

Tax Information

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

The adjustments (AJR, ARC, ARO and Retro (RXX)) are supplemental taxable income and will be included in the employee’s taxable gross 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).

Special Wage Payments for Individuals Who Filed for Retirement Social Security Benefits

Per Internal Revenue Service Publication 9857, OSC will be reporting retro payments to individuals who have filed for Social Security benefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

As PayServ does not include this information, OSC will be mailing a Request for Special Wage Payment Report to inactive individuals who are 62 or older in the calendar year and to active employees with the New York Retiree Indicator checked in Modify a Person who receive the retroactive payment. Recipients of this mailing will be asked to fill out the request and return it to OSC for inclusion on the Special Wage Payment report to SSA. This report will be submitted to SSA after the close of the 2021 tax year.

It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retiree Indicator box is checked for rehired retirees. Please see Payroll Bulletin No. 1728 for further details on the New York Retiree Indicator box.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate Earnings Code and the amount paid and will be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description and the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Agencies should utilize Locked Query LQ_PCD_PAYCHECK_EARNINGS_BY_ID to identify a complete list of regular earnings and retroactive adjustments if there are more than 13 earnings codes.

Undeliverable Checks

When a valid payroll check is undeliverable due to the agency’s inability to locate the employee, the agency should follow the Agency Actions identified in Payroll Bulletin No. 1786 Non-Negotiated and/or Undeliverable New York State Payroll Checks.

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 eligibility for CUNY High Pressure Plant Tender retroactive pay rate increases may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.

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

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

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