State Agencies Bulletin No. 2068

Subject
New Security Supervisors Hazardous Duty Pay for Eligible Employees Represented by Council 82 AFSCME AFL-CIO (C82).
Date Issued
October 28, 2022

Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of the new Additional Pay Earnings Codes, automatic processing for the bi-weekly Security Supervisors Hazardous Duty Pay, and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically for Employees represented by Council 82 Security Supervisors Unit.

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 the new bi-weekly Security Supervisors Unit Hazardous Duty Pay payment for employees who have at least one year of service credit in either BU61 or BU91.

Effective Dates:

The new Hazardous Duty Pay 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 and Payment Amounts listed below:

Year Institution Administration BU61 Annual Payment Amount BU91 Annual Payment Amount
April 2019 03/28/2019 04/04/2019 $750 $150
April 2020 03/26/2020 04/02/2020 $950 $200
April 2021 03/25/2021 04/01/2021 $1,150 $200
October 2021 10/07/2021 09/30/2021 $1,500 $200

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees in Bargaining Unit 61 or Bargaining Unit 91 who, after 1 year of cumulative service in either bargaining unit, have a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence with an Action/Reason code of WCL, WDL, WPS or if the Action/Reason Code is LOA/MLL (Leave of

Absence/Military), LOA/MLS (Leave of Absence/Mil Stip) or LOA/MTS (Leave of Absence/Military Training) are eligible to receive the new Hazardous Duty Pay.

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 2016-2022 Salary Increases and October 2021 Increase to 25 Year Longevity Pay.  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:

The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) has created the following new    Additional Pay Codes to be used to process the payments:

Bargaining Unit 61(Arbitration Eligible)

New Additional Pay Earns Code Description Associated Retro Code Associated Adjustment Code
61H BU61 Hazardous Duty Pay R61 A61

Bargaining Unit 91 (Non-Arbitration Eligible)

New Additional Pay Earns Code Description Associated Retro Code Associated Adjustment Code
91H BU91 Hazardous Duty Pay R91 A91

OSC will automatically insert rows on the Additional Pay page with the effective dates and amounts listed in the chart above for April 2019, April 2020, April 2021 and October 2021 for all employees in BU61 and BU91 who meet the eligibility criteria.

Bargaining Unit 61(Arbitration Eligible)

Earnings Code: 61H
Effective Date: Each Effective Date in chart above
OT Eff Date: Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings: The amount above corresponding to the applicable Effective Date

Bargaining Unit 91(Non-Arbitration Eligible)

Earnings Code: 91H
Effective Date: Each Effective Date in chart above
OT Eff Date: Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings: The amount above corresponding to the applicable Effective Date

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 Hazardous Duty Pay (Earnings Codes 61H and 91H) 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:

Beginning in Pay Period 16L, agencies must submit transactions for employees who were not eligible at the time of automatic processing but subsequently become eligible.

Submitting Payment

To make the bi-weekly Hazardous Duty Pay payments to eligible employees who were not systematically processed, agencies must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page using the appropriate Earnings Code:

Bargaining Unit 61(Arbitration Eligible)

Earnings Code: 61H
Effective Date: Date Employee Becomes Eligible
OT Eff Date: Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings: The amount above corresponding to the applicable Effective Date
Earnings End Date: Leave Blank
Goal Balance Leave Blank

Bargaining Unit 91(Non-Arbitration Eligible)

Earnings Code: 91H
Effective Date: Date Employee Becomes Eligible
OT Eff Date: Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings: The amount above corresponding to the applicable Effective Date
Earnings End Date: Leave Blank
Goal Balance Leave Blank

The bi-weekly Hazardous Duty Pay payment is included in the calculation of overtime compensation (refer to the Online Payroll Manual accessed from the PayServ Bulletin Board – Payroll Manual > Earnings Manual > Time Entry Payments > Overtime Compensation).

If an employee is appointed to an ineligible position effective after receiving the bi-weekly Hazardous Duty Pay payments, the payments cannot be included in the compensation calculation of any overtime earned after the date of appointment. Therefore, agencies must insert a row on the Additional Pay page at the Effective Date level of Earnings Codes 61H or 91H (as appropriate) and enter the following information:

Effective Date: Last date in eligible position (date prior to appointment)
OT Eff Date: Same as original OT Eff Date
Annual Addl Earnings: Same as original amount (populates automatically)
End Date: Same as Effective Date
Goal Balance: Same as Annual Addl Earnings (to prevent making another payment)

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:

Earnings Begin Date: The first date included in the adjustment
Earnings End Date: The last date included in the adjustment
Earn Code: AJR, ARC or ARO
Amount: Amount to be adjusted
Comments: An explanation of the adjustment

Control-D Report Available After Processing:

After the automatic processing of the Security Services Hazardous Duty Pay is completed, the following Control-D report will be available for agency use:

NHRP703 Mass Salary Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees receiving the automatic BU61 Hazardous Duty Pay (Earnings Code 61H) or BU91 Hazardous Duty Pay (Earnings Code 91H). 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:

Code Description
406 Strike/Discip Fine
410 Health Care Spending Account
416 Deferred Comp
420 NY Dependent Care Contribution
425 Repay State Loans/Debt
426 Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428 Dependent Care
433 Total Unemployment Ins Owed
442 Pre-Tax Adoption
500 Medicare Deficiency
501 Social Security Deficiency
502 NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
682 VDC Before Tax Arrears
685 VDC Suspense Before Tax Arrears
GARNSH Garnishments
HIATRG Regular After Tax Health

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 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.