Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards

Affected Employees

Employees in PSNU, Bargaining Unit 68 in the following lifeguard titles at the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Service Office, State University of New York and the Department of Environmental Conservation who meet the eligibility criteria

• 001269 - Lifeguard
• 001270 - Lifeguard 2 LISPC
• 001274 - Supvg Lifeguard LISPC
• 001275 - Assnt Chf Lifeguard
• 001276 - Field Lt LISPRC LFGDS
• 001277 - Chf Lifeguard
• 001278 - Field Capt LISPRC LFG
• 019562 - Lifeguard 2

Background

All eligible members of PSNU who are included in Bargaining Unit 68 (Lifeguards) will receive the April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards and will be paid retroactively in accordance with:

• Chapter 263 of the Laws of 2018, which implemented the 2016-2022 Agreement between the State of New York and UUP, and
• Division of the Budget Bulletin D-1139 issued 03/18/2019 on Policy and Wage Rates for State Employees in Seasonal Positions

Effective Date(s)

The April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards will be paid using the following effective dates and check dates:

Eligibility Criteria

The following employees in a Lifeguard title on or after the payment effective date are eligible to receive the increase:

• Employees with a Pay Basis Code of HRY (Grade 600) will receive an increase to the rate in effect on the 2016, 2017 or 2018 Seasonal Hourly Wage schedule based on the employee’s title and location or two percent (2.0%) for the corresponding fiscal year, whichever is greater.
• Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN (Grade 105) will receive a retroactive increase of two percent (2.0%) for 2016, two percent (2.0%) for 2017 and two percent (2.0%) for 2018.
• Employees must have had earnings in an eligible title during the 2018 season (Begins 04/01/2018).

OSC Actions

After agency processing for Administration Pay Period 8L and Institution Pay Period 9L is complete, OSC will automatically insert rows on the Job Data page to reflect the April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards for employees who meet the eligibility criteria.

These increases will be processed as follows:

• If an employee is in one of the above lifeguard titles with a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on the payment effective dates:
  • A row will be inserted on the Job Data page using that effective date and the Action/Reason code Pay Rate Change/SAC (Mass Salary Increase).
  • The salary on the inserted row will be increased as describe above in the Eligibility Criteria Section.
  • All subsequent rows for that fiscal year will also be updated, regardless of status, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Cor Sal) for employees with a Pay Basis Code equal to ANN or Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) for employees with a Pay Basis Code equal to HRY.

• If an employee is not in one of the above lifeguard titles or does not have a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on any of the appropriate effective dates, but becomes eligible after the effective date:
  • A row will be inserted on the Job Data page using the date the employee was in a lifeguard title with a Payroll Status of Active or Leave with Pay using the Action/Reason code Pay Rate Change/CSL (Cor Sal) for employees with a Pay Basis Code equal to ANN or Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) for employees with a Pay Basis Code equal to HRY.
  • The salary on the inserted row will be increased as describe above in the Eligibility Criteria Section.
  • All subsequent rows for that fiscal year up will also be updated, regardless of status, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Cor Sal) for employees with a Pay Basis Code equal to ANN or Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) for employees with a Pay Basis Code equal to HRY.

Note: Only subsequent rows with an effective date up to and including 03/27/2019 (Institution Lag and Administration Extra Lag) and 04/03/2019 (Administration Lag and Institution Extra Lag) will be updated. Agencies are responsible for calculating the updated rate due to employees upon rehire for the 2019 season. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin 1746 for additional information.

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review after the automatic payments have been processed. The report will be sorted by agency code, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NHRP704 – Mass Salary Increase Report

This report identifies all employees who received the April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards. The report identifies all employees’ salaries that were increased in an eligible bargaining unit.

Agency Actions -Beginning in Administration Pay Period 9L or Institution Pay Period 10L

To Process Payment Manually

Agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate Reason code(s) (see below) to pay the April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards to eligible employees not processed automatically:

• Reason code SAC (Mass Salary Increase) – for transactions effective on the payment effective date as listed in the Effective Dates and Payment Section
• Reason code CRT (Change Rate) for HRY Pay Basis or CSL (Correct Salary) for ANN Pay Basis – for transactions effective after the applicable payment effective date

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular earnings and Time Entry earnings that are calculated by the system based on annual salary, such as Overtime (OTA and OTK) and Lost Time (LT1), resulting from payment of the April 2016, April 2017 and April 2018 Retroactive Salary Increases for Lifeguards.

If an employee receives a payment and has worked in more than one agency but has been paid by all agencies in the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

If an employee receives a payment and has worked in more than one agency and has been paid in more than one Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, the retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency of the Employee Record Number in which the original payment was made.

Agency Actions – Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as RGO (Regular Salary Override).

Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the agency is responsible for identifying employees who meet the following conditions and, if necessary, submitting the necessary adjustment.

• If an employee had a check returned or exchanged on an AC-230 for dates on or after the effective date of the payment, the payroll system does not consider the AC-230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment.
• If earnings were previously reported using Earnings Codes RGH and a date range that exceeded the number of days reported, the system will calculate the adjustment of earnings based on the number of workdays within the range.
• Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as Overtime (OTA and OTK), will be calculated incorrectly if the dates previously reported as a single entry on the Time Entry page overlap the effective date of the payment. The system will calculate an adjustment for all earnings reported in a single entry based on the salary in effect on the Earnings End Date.
• For employees who had a change reported on the Job Data page since the effective date of the payment and the action 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 payment is processed.  OSC will turn off (not process) the automatic negative adjustment for these employees since in most cases these overpayments were either not recoverable or recovered using another method.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the payment is processed but before the paycheck is received by the employee, the employee must be notified of the overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.

Submitting an Adjustment

To process a retroactive adjustment or correct an automatic retroactive adjustment, agencies must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the Earnings Code AJR.

Deduction Information

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:

Tax Information

The adjustments (ADJ, AJR 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).

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 must complete form AC3340, Request for Payroll Check Stop Payment, and email it to the AnnualUncashed Payroll Check Outreach mailbox. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1684 for instructions.

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