State Agencies Bulletin No. 1990.1

Subject
Pilot Program Establishing a Temporary Overtime Rate for Employees in Certain Titles Represented by the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) Working at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities
Date Issued
July 25, 2022
Status
Background Updated
Status Date
July 15, 2022

This bulletin is supersedes by Payroll Bulletin No. 1990.2.

Purpose

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

Affected Employees

Employees in certain Security Services Unit (BU21) titles who work at OPWDD are affected.

Background

The Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) between the State of New York, OPWDD, the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the Public Employees Federation (PEF), the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), and Council 82 (C82) allows OPWDD 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 applies to all overtime earned during shifts that begin at or after 11:00 pm on 12/01/2021 and at or before 10:59 pm on 08/31/2022. For any shift that begins at or after 11:00 pm on 08/31/2022, 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 OPWDD who are represented by NYSCOPBA is .00120.

Effective Dates

The new overtime rate is effective at 11:00 pm on 12/01/2021. 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 OPWDD and have overtime earnings effective 11:00 pm on 12/01/2021 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
Safety & Security Officer 1 008030 8755100
Safety & Security Officer 2 008034 8755200
Safety & Security Officer Trainee 008028 8755000

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
C25 Covid-19 OT for Ann 2080 2.5 RC5 C72
CH5 Covid-19 OT Hourly/Biweekly 2.5 RO5 O19
O25 OT for Ann 2080 2.5 R25 OCS
OH5 OT Hourly/Biweekly 2.5 RH5 OTK
OR5 OT Recall Ann 2080 2.5 RR5 ORC
O21 OT 2.5 with Partial IIB BU21 N/A OID

Agencies 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 12/01/2021 (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 .00120 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 payment has been calculated at 2.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay as part of this pilot program.

Note: Agencies must split overtime earned before 11:00 pm on 12/01/2021 from overtime earned at or after 11:00 pm on 12/01/2021 due to the difference in the OT rate approved for payment.

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 .00072, the agency must calculate the correct earnings amount using the overtime factor of .00120 and enter the difference owed using Earnings Code AOR, the original Earnings Begin Date, and original Earnings End Date.

If an eligibleemployee was previously paid overtime for the period identified above using Earnings Code CVO and a calculation using the overtime factor of .00072, the agency must calculate the correct earnings amount using the overtime factor of .00120 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 Code, original Earnings Begin Date, original Earnings End Date, and original Hours/Units/Amount as a negative value.
  • Enter the corresponding New 2.5x Earns Code, the original Earnings Begin Date, original Earnings End Date, and 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 (RC5, RO5, R25, RH5, and RR5) 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.