State Agencies Bulletin No. 1988.2

Subject
Pilot Program Establishing Temporary Overtime Rates for Employees in Certain Titles Represented by Council 82 AFSCME AFL-CIO (C82) Working at the Office of Mental Health (OMH)
Date Issued
October 3, 2022
Status
Background Updated
Status Date
September 30, 2022

This bulletin is superseded by Payroll Bulletin No. 1988.3.

Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide information and processing instructions regarding the implementation of a pilot program establishing temporary overtime rates for employees in certain titles represented by C82 working at OMH.

Affected Employees:

Employees in certain Security Supervisors Unit (SSPU BU91) titles who work at OMH are affected.

Background:

The Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) between the State of New York, OMH and Council 82 AFSCME AFL-CIO (C82) allow OMH to establish a temporary overtime rate of 2.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay for employees in certain titles.

The new overtime rate shall apply to all overtime earned during shifts that begin at or after 11:00 pm on 11/03/2021 and at or before 10:59 pm on 11/30/2022. For any shift that begins at or after 11:00 pm on 11/30/2022, the overtime rate shall revert to the rate in place prior to implementation of the pilot program unless extended by mutual agreement of the parties.

The overtime factor used by the New York State Payroll System (PayServ) for affected employees at OMH who are represented by Council 82 is .00125.

Effective Dates:

The new overtime rate is effective 11:00 pm on 11/03/2021. Agencies should begin using the new Time Entry Overtime Earnings Codes in Institution Pay Period 19L, checks dated 12/30/2021.

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees who work at OMH and have overtime earnings effective 11:00 pm on 11/03/2021 through the end of the pilot program in one of the following titles must be paid at a rate of 2.5 times their regular rate of pay using one of the new Time Entry Overtime Earnings Codes:

Title Job Code Title Code
Chief Safety and Security Officer 019415 8755300
Security Hospital Supervising Treatment Assistant 007966 8718400

OSC Actions:

OSC has created the following new Time Entry Earnings Codes to report overtime payments for employees eligible to receive overtime at 2.5 times their regular rate of pay:

New 2.5x Earns Code Description Associated Retro Code Original Earns Code
CH5 Covid-19 OT Hourly/Biweekly 2.5 RO5 O19
CU2 Covid-19 OT for Ann 2000 2.5 RUC C75
OU2 OT for Ann 2000 2.5 RU2 OTA
O2R OT Recall Ann 2000 2.5 ROR RCL
OH5 OT Hourly/Biweekly 2.5 RH5 OTK
RO2 Recall Standby OT Classified 2.5 R2O ROC
SC5 Standby OT Classified 2.5 R5C SOC

The agency should continue using either Earnings Code OTO – OT Override or Earnings Code CVO – Covid-19 OT Override for overtime payments that cannot be calculated by PayServ.

Agency Actions:

Beginning Institution Pay Period 19L

To report overtime earnings related to the pilot program effective beginning 11:00 pm on 11/03/2021 (Institution), agencies must submit the appropriate New 2.5x Earns Code (as listed in OSC Actions above) on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the following procedures:

Earnings Begin Date: Effective date started
Earnings End Date: Effective date ended
Earn Code: Enter appropriate code
Hours/Units/Amount: Number of Hours/Units/Amounts, as applicable

Agencies must use the overtime factor of .00125 in the calculation when submitting any payments using Earnings Code OTO – OT Override or Earnings Code CVO – Covid-19 OT Override. Agencies must include an explanation in General Comments or Time Entry Comments that this overtime has been calculated at 2.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay as part of this pilot program.

Previously Paid Overtime Using Earnings Code OTO or Earnings Code CVO

If an eligible employee was previously paid overtime for the period identified above using Earnings Code OTO and a calculation using the overtime factor of .00075, the agency must calculate the correct earnings amount using the overtime factor of .00125 and enter the difference owed using Earnings Code AOR, the original Earnings Begin Date, and original Earnings End Date.

If an eligible employee was previously paid overtime for the period identified above using Earnings Code CVO and a calculation using the overtime factor of .00075, the agency must calculate the correct earnings amount using the overtime factor of .00125 and enter the difference owed using Earnings Code ACO, the original Earnings Begin Date, and original Earnings End Date.

Previously Paid Overtime Using the Remaining Earnings Codes Listed Above

If an eligible employee was previously paid overtime for the period identified above using the original Earns Code, the agency must update these records on the Time Entry Page or Time Entry Interface as follows:

  • Enter the original Earns Earnings Begin Date, original Earnings End Date, and origin Code, original Hours/Units/Amount as a negative value.
  • Enter the corresponding New 2.5x Earns Code or existing Earns Code, the original Earnings Begin Date, the original Earnings End Date, and the original Hours/Units/Amount as a positive value.

Retirement Information:

Payments using the earnings codes mentioned above are included as salary for retirement purposes.

Tax Information:

These earnings are taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are subject to all employment and income taxes. Income taxes will be calculated using the employee’s current withholding elements in PayServ.

Retro Codes (RUC, RU2, ROR, RO5, RH5, R20, and R5C) 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 (2.30815% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

Questions:

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

Questions regarding general deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.