State Agencies Bulletin No. 1664

Subject
Updated Procedures for Initiating or Terminating Payroll Deductions for Union Dues
Date Issued
August 20, 2018
Status
Superseded

This bulletin has been superseded by Payroll Bulletin 1664.1

Purpose

To inform agencies of updated procedures for processing union dues deductions in PayServ

Affected Employees

Employees who are seeking to initiate or terminate deductions for union dues (except Courts, SUNY and CUNY)

Background

A recent internal review of the procedures for initiating and terminating payroll deductions for union dues has highlighted the need to ensure that all actions taken with respect to union dues deductions are properly authorized, verified and executed.

As the State’s payroll administrator, OSC is responsible for processing required payroll deductions (e.g., income tax and wage garnishments) and authorized deductions (e.g., deferred compensation and union dues). With respect to the deduction for union dues, because OSC is not a party to the relationship between the unions and its members and because the process for initiating and severing union membership varies by union, OSC must rely upon the unions for the information necessary to determine whether and when a member/union relationship has been initiated, severed, or otherwise changed. To ensure that all actions taken in PayServ regarding union membership and union dues deductions are accurate and properly authorized, requests for the initiation, cessation or modification of dues deductions must come from a union via electronic file submissions to OSC.

Currently, certain unions submit membership and dues deductions transactions via electronic file submissions directly into PayServ. Other unions do not currently have the capability to do so. Agencies will no longer be allowed to process union dues deductions via direct entry into PayServ for those unions that submit membership and dues transactions via electronic file submissions to OSC.

Agencies will continue to initiate, discontinue and modify the payroll deduction in PayServ for those unions that do not currently submit membership and dues transactions via electronic file submissions to OSC.

OSC will process all union dues-related transactions submitted by the unions as soon as practicable consistent with payroll processing requirements. In most cases, the transaction will be processed in the next pay cycle following submission.

Effective Date(s)

Friday, August 24, 2018 for paychecks dated: September 5, 2018 (Administration) September 13, 2018 (Institution)

OSC Actions

OSC will remove the functionality in PayServ that allows agencies to initiate, discontinue or modify the payroll deduction for union dues for the following unions:

Union Ded Code Deduction Description
Council 82 202 AFSCME, Council 82
CSEA 201 Civil Service Employees Assoc.
CSEA 475 CSEA Hourly Dues
NYSPIA 227 Int'l Union Police Assoc.
NYSCOPBA 291 NYSCOPBA
NYSCOPBA 491 NYSCOPBA NA
PBA,NYSP 205 PBA, NYSP 17 - 18 DUES
PBA,NYSP 469 PBA, NYSP 07 DUES
PBANYS 483 PBANYS Dues
PEF 233 PEF Member
UUP 477 UUP Lifeguard Members

OSC will NOT remove the functionality in PayServ that allows agencies to initiate, discontinue or modify the payroll deduction for the following unions:

Union Ded Code Deduction Description
DC37 224 District Co 37 Loc 1359

For DC37, there is no change to the current process at this time. The Business Services Center will continue to enter dues deduction transactions into PayServ based on authorizations submitted by the union.

Agency Actions

Notify employees to contact their union to initiate, terminate or modify their membership or dues status.

Questions

Please send questions to the payroll deduction mailbox.