State Agencies Bulletin No. 2080

Subject
2023 State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA) Campaign
Date Issued
November 18, 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide instructions for processing payroll deductions for the SEFA Campaign for the 2023 calendar year and explain SEFA Continuous Giving.

Affected Employees

All employees are affected.

Effective Dates

Payroll deductions for the 2023 SEFA Campaign will begin January 4, 2023 for Administration paychecks and January 12, 2023 for Institution paychecks.

Background

State Finance Law, Section 201 authorizes deductions from employee salaries for charitable donations.

Effective July 18, 2022 Title 9 Executive Department, Subtitle G Office of General Services, Chapter VI Miscellaneous, Subchapter A, General Rules Part 355, Charitable Contributions through the State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA), allow for continuous giving.

SEFA Campaign Guidelines

The pre-printed Federated Community Campaign (FCC) Code, which appears on the SEFA Pledge and Payroll Deduction Authorization card, must be used as the Deduction Code. Authorization cards that have been modified must be returned to the employee for completion of a new card. Please visit www.sefanys.org to obtain a copy of the authorization card.

SEFA Continuous Giving is a donation without an end date. Beginning in 2023, SEFA pledges made via www.sefanys.org will either be a one-time donation or a continuous gift until it is changed or discontinued by the employee. Pledges made via the authorization card will be a continuous gift until changed or discontinued by the employee.

The amount of the deduction requested on the authorization card is the amount to be deducted from each paycheck, not the total amount of the pledge. State agencies cannot accept cash for the SEFA Campaigns. Checks made out to SEFA will be accepted.

Online Enrollment

Online enrollment can be utilized for employees wishing to donate to any FCC code. Employees are encouraged to pledge online by visiting www.sefanys.org.

Employees without computer access, or who choose not to use the online enrollment process may obtain paper SEFA Pledge and Payroll Deduction Authorization cards at their agency payroll office. Online enrollment must be completed by December 19, 2022, to ensure it will be entered for the first paycheck of 2023.

OSC Actions

OSC will process the electronic files received from the vendor to add a row to the employee’s general deduction record on a weekly basis. An error report of transactions not processed will be sent to the vendor for review.

Agency Actions

The following instructions apply to agencies that are not currently customers of the NYS Business Services Center (BSC). The BSC will provide specific instructions for processing the SEFA pledge cards to agencies they service.

Employees not enrolling online: 

  1. Agencies must review the completed SEFA Pledge and Payroll Deduction Authorization card and verify the completeness, accuracy, and legibility of the FCC Code, Payroll Deduction, Employee’s Department ID, Employee’s NYS EMPLID, and Name.
  2. Agencies must ensure the new pledge card which contains updated authorization for continuous giving is obtained. Please visit www.sefanys.org to obtain a copy of the updated authorization card.
  3. Agencies are required to enter SEFA transactions into PayServ on the General Deduction Data page, using the following instructions:
    1. After logging into PayServ, navigate to General Deduction Data (Main Menu > Payroll for North America > Employee Pay Data USA > Deductions > General Deduction Data).
    2. Enter the NYS EMPLID from the authorization card in the Empl ID field of the dialog box and click Search.
    3. The employee’s General Deduction Data page appears.
    4. Select View All.
    5. Determine whether the employee already has a deduction record for the specific FCC Code on the authorization card by scrolling through the Deduction Codes.
    6. If a record with the same FCC Code exists, add a new row in the Deduction Details page, insert a row and continue with Step 5.
  4. If there is not an existing row for the FCC Code, add a new row in the General Deduction Data page and continue to Step 4.
  5. Enter the Deduction Code (FCC Code) indicated on the SEFA authorization card.
  6. Enter the Effective Date for the first day of the current, unconfirmed pay period according to the Agency Submission Schedule.  
  7. Deduction Calculation Routine – Select Flat Amount from the drop-down box.
  8. Deduction End Date – An end date should not be entered as pledges beginning in calendar year 2023 are continuous pledges. Effective in the first paycheck of 2023, OSC will end date all 2022 SEFA deductions with no end date or an end date that is not valid.
  9. Flat/Addl. Amount – Enter the amount to be deducted from each biweekly paycheck, not the total amount to be deducted for the campaign.
  10. Save the transaction.
  11. The Goal Amount field should not be used when entering SEFA transactions.

If an employee has a Goal Amount/Goal Balance in the existing record and the agency enters a transaction for 2023, the Goal Amount and Goal Balance will roll up on the newly inserted row unless the Goal Amount and Goal Balance are equal. Agencies must delete the Goal Amount and Goal Balance on the 2023 row and then save the transaction.

SEFA FCC Codes

The FCC Listing is available in numeric and alphabetic order.

Changes

Employees who want to change a SEFA deduction may do so by visiting www.sefanys.org or by completing a new authorization card. A PayServ General Deduction transaction should then be processed by the agency to change the deduction. Authorization cards must be retained by the agency.

Transfers

OSC automatically continues SEFA deductions upon an employee’s transfer from one agency to another within the same payroll record. When an employee transfers, it is necessary to obtain a new authorization card only if the employee wants to contribute to a different SEFA organization in the new agency.

Cancellations

To cancel a SEFA deduction, employees may do so by visiting www.sefanys.org or by completing a new authorization card requesting to discontinue the deduction. The agency must insert a new row using the beginning date of the pay period in which the deduction should be canceled as the Effective Date and Deduction End Date. Authorization cards must be retained by the agency.

Questions

Questions concerning the online enrollment process or continuous giving for SEFA deductions, may be directed to the Statewide SEFA Council at (315)-428-2211 or [email protected].

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