Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the April 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 Retroactive changes to Command Pay and provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Employees in the Security Supervisors Unit (SSPU BU61 and BU91) and who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background

Chapter 359 of the Laws of 2022 implemented the 2016-2023 Agreement between the State of New York and the NYS Law Enforcement Officers’ Union, District Council 82 (Council 82) for interest arbitration eligible members (BU61) and interest arbitration ineligible members (BU91) of the Security Supervisors Unit (SSPU) provides for retroactive changes to Command Pay for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Effective Dates

The retroactive changes to Command Pay (Security Supervisor Command Py, Earnings Code CCP) will be paid in paychecks dated 11/09/2022 (Administration Pay Period 15L) and 11/17/2022 (Institution Pay Period 15L) with the effective dates listed below:

Eligibility Criteria

Employees who have received or currently receive CCP on or after 03/28/2019 while in the eligible bargaining unit, are entitled to the increase.

Earnings Codes and Payment Amounts

Employees Terminated via Discipline Process

Employees terminated from employment pursuant to a disciplinary termination are ineligible to receive payment of retroactive monies as a result of processing the April 2019-2022 Command Pay Changes. Agencies must review the records of employees who occupied a position in BU 61 or BU 91 during the retroactive period and were subsequently terminated to determine if the termination was the result of a disciplinary process and provide OSC with a list (Excel) of affected employees and include the deptid, emplid, record, bargaining unit, position number, and effective date of termination and Action/Reason of termination. Agency listings of employees’ ineligible to receive retroactive pay must be received by OSC on or before 10/24/2022 (Administration) and 10/31/2022 (Institution).

OSC Actions

Command Pay (CCP)

OSC will automatically insert a row to update the Additional Pay page with the effective dates and amounts listed in the charts above for the April 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 changes for all employees in BU61 and BU91 receiving Command Pay.

OSC will automatically update any eligible subsequent rows.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for Time Entry earnings that are calculated by the system that include Command Pay (Earnings Code CCP) such as Overtime (Earnings Code OCS).

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 the April 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 Retroactive Changes to Command Pay for Bargaining Unit 61 and 91 eligible employees not processed automatically or who return from an authorized leave of absence, the agency must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page using the appropriate Earnings Code:

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 Pay Period 15L, agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Extra Time Override (Earnings Code 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 that are 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 after processing of the automatic increase:

NHRP703 Mass Salary Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees receiving an automatic increase for the April 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 Retroactive Changes to Command Pay (Earnings Code CCP). Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn 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.