Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of OSC’s upcoming automatic processing of the Agency Police Services Unit (APSU) retroactive April 2019-April 2022 increases to Command Payment (Earnings Code COM), and Premium Overtime (Earnings Code PRO), OSC’s manual processing of increases to Administrative Maintenance Pay (Earnings Code AMP), and to provide agencies instructions for processing Command Payment and Premium Overtime increases not processed automatically.

Affected Employees:

All employees in Bargaining Unit 31, represented by APSU, who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background:

Pursuant to the Memorandum of Agreement between the State of New York and the Police Benevolent Association of New York, Inc. (PBANYS) covering the period 04/01/2019 through 03/31/2023 and Chapter 60 of the Laws of 2022, members of the Agency Police Services Unit (APSU – BU 31) are due salary increases in April 2019, April 2020, April 2021, and April 2022. Because the employee’s compensation rate is used in the calculation of Administrative Maintenance Pay (Earnings Code AMP), Command Payment (Earnings Code COM), and Premium Overtime (Earnings Code PRO), these payments must also be increased.

Effective Dates:

The increases to Earnings Codes AMP, COM and PRO will be paid using the following effective dates and check dates.

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees in Bargaining Unit 31 who have a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence on or after the payment effective date for each respective year are eligible for increases to Earnings Codes AMP, COM and/or PRO.

OSC Actions:

After completion of the Retroactive Salary Increases for APSU employees (see Bulletin #2034, April 2019, April 2020, April 2021, and April 2022 Agency Police Services Retroactive 2% Salary Increases), OSC will automatically insert a row for eligible employees on the Additional Pay page for each effective date the employee is eligible if a row does not already exist with the respective effective date and update the Annual Addl Earnings amount with the applicable rate as described below. If a row with an effective date equal to the effective date of an applicable increase already exists, or there is a row(s) with an effective date greater than the respective effective date, the Annual Addl Earnings amount will be updated on the existing row with the applicable rate as described below provided the employee remains eligible.

Command Pay (COM)

Premium Overtime (PRO)

Automatic Retroactive Processing:

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for Additional Pay for Earnings Codes AMP, COM and PRO resulting from processing of the 2019-2022 Retroactive Increases, and for Time Entry earnings that are calculated by the system based on Additional Pay factors, such as OT for Annual 2080 (OCS) and Holiday Pay (HPA), resulting from payment of the 2019-2022 Retroactive Increases for Earnings Codes AMP, COM and PRO.

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 payment was made.

Agency Actions:

To pay Command Pay (COM) and Premium Overtime (PRO) to eligible employees not processed automatically or who return from an authorized leave of absence after automatic processing is complete, agencies must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page using the appropriate Earnings Code:

Command Pay (COM)

Premium Overtime (PRO)

Administrative Maintenance Pay (AMP)

OSC will provide agencies with a list of employees who appear to be eligible for one or more of the Administrative Maintenance Pay (AMP) Retroactive Increases on Friday, 07/08/2022. Agencies must review the list to verify the list is complete and to verify the calculated AMP rates OSC provided are correct. Once verified, agencies must return the list to OSC by Friday, 07/08/2022. OSC will then manually insert new rows or update existing rows to reflect the new AMP rates.

Agency Actions - Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning in Administration Pay Period 7L, agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Extra Time Override (EXO).

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 has 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 Code RGS 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 OT for Annuals 2080 (OCS), 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 automatic 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

When an adjustment is needed for COVID-19 overtime such as CVO, ARC must be used. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OTT, 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.

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, ARC or ARO:

Control-D Report Available After Processing:

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review after processing of the retroactive increases:

NHRP703 Mass Salary Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees whose AMP (Administrative Maintenance Pay), COM (Command Payment) and/or PRO (Premium Overtime) earnings were updated. This report will be sorted by DeptID and then by employee name, in alphabetical order. Fields in the report include Employee ID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earnings Code, Grade, Salary Plan, Bargaining Unit, and Additional Pay Amount.

General Deductions:

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

Tax Information:

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

The adjustments (AJR, ARC, ARO, and Retro (RXX)) are supplemental taxable wages, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are 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. Yonkers Flat Rate Withholding is 1.95975% 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 957, OSC will be reporting retro payments made 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 2022 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.

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.

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.

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.