Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agencies with instructions for processing the June 2022 Lifeguard Salary Increase.

Affected Employees

Employees in the following lifeguard titles, in the PSNU who are included in Bargaining Unit 68 (Lifeguards) and meet the eligibility criteria are affected:

• 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 the PSNU who are included in Bargaining Unit 68 (Lifeguards) will receive the June 2022 Lifeguard Salary Increase in accordance with Division of the Budget Bulletin D-1145 issued July 19, 2022 on Wage Rates for State Employees in Seasonal Lifeguard Positions.

Effective Date

The June 2022 Lifeguard Salary Increase may be submitted beginning with the following effective date and check dates:

Eligibility Criteria

The following employees in a Lifeguard title on or after the 2022 Payment Effective Date are eligible to receive the applicable 2022 increase:

• Employees with a Comp Rate Code of HRY (Grade 600) are eligible to receive the 2022 rate as listed on the Lifeguard Hourly Wage Rates Schedule that is attached to the Division of Budget Bulletin D-1145 based on the employee’s title and location.

Agency Actions

For New Hourly Hires – For hourly employees hired on or after the applicable 2022 Payment Effective Date, use the 2022 rate for the employee’s title and location as listed on the Lifeguard Hourly Wage Rates Schedule attached to Budget Bulletin D-1145. (Note: Rates for SUNY Lifeguards are the same as what is listed in the Budget Bulletin.)

For Rehires (same title) and Current Employees – For employees who are active or rehired in the same title on or after the applicable 2022 Payment Effective Date, use the rate for the employee’s title and location as listed on the Lifeguard Hourly Wage Rates Schedule attached to Budget Bulletin D-1145.

For Hourly Rehires (different title) – For employees rehired in a different title on or after the applicable 2022 Payment Effective Date, use the 2022 rate for the employee’s title and location as listed on the Lifeguard Hourly Wage Rates Schedule attached to Budget Bulletin D-1145.

Processing Payment

Agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate Reason code (see below) to pay the June 2022 Lifeguard Salary Increase to eligible employees in a Lifeguard title.

• Reason code SAC (Mass Salary Increase) – for transactions with an Effective Date on 06/22/2022.
• Reason code CRT (Change Rate) for employees with Comp Rate Code of HRY – for transactions with an Effective Date after 06/22/2022.

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 or hourly rate, such as Overtime (OTK), resulting from payment of the June 2022 Lifeguard Salary Increase.
• 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 - 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 Regular Salary Override (RGO).

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.
• Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as Overtime (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 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 related 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 used. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 for more information. Agencies must continue to use AJR for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment due to 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:

Deduction Information

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

Tax Information

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

The adjustments (AJR, ARC, ARO, 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 (1.95975% 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 2021 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.

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.

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.

Questions

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

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