State Agencies Bulletin No. 2096

Subject

Reallocation of Nursing Titles

Date Issued

January 12, 2023

Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to notify agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of title changes, reallocations, and increased hiring rates of specific nursing titles approved by the Division of the Budget (DOB) and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees:

Employees occupying an approved title on or after the effective date of the title change and reallocation are affected.

Note: Employees currently in Teaching & Research Cntr Nurse titles at the State University of New York Hospitals will be addressed in a separate bulletin.

Background:

The Division of the Budget letter dated 12/05/2022 authorized title changes, reallocations, and increased hiring rates (Civil Service Law 130.4) for nursing titles included on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocation list.

Effective Dates:

Employee position and compensation information will be updated in PayServ using the following effective dates and check dates:

Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type	Period No.	Effective Date	Check Date
Administration/Lag	21	12/22/2022	02/01/2023
Institution/Lag	21	12/29/2022	02/09/2023

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees occupying a title included on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocation list on or after the effective date of the reallocation are eligible for the change in title and grade and salary, if applicable.

OSC Actions:

OSC will automatically update the PayServ Position Data records associated with approved titles and Job Data records of eligible employees as follows using the appropriate effective date.

Position Data

On 01/13/2023 (Administration) or 01/20/2023 (Institution), OSC will update the Position Data page for all positions with a Status of Active and a current Job Code, Title Code, Title, and Grade (if applicable) appearing on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocation list.
A row will be inserted using the appropriate effective date, a Reason of TSC (Title Sttr), and the new Job Code, Title Code, Title, and Grade (if applicable) appearing on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocation list.
If a row already exists with the appropriate effective date or a subsequent effective dated row exists, the Reason will be updated to TSC (Title Sttr) and the Job Code, Title Code, Title and Grade (if applicable) will be updated per the attached Nursing Titles Reallocation list.

Job Data - Position Information

On 01/13/2023 (Administration) or 01/20/2023 (Institution), OSC will update the position information on the Job Data page for all employees with a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence, whose title in effect on or after the appropriate effective date of this payment is included on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocation list.
A row will be inserted on the employee’s Job Data page to update the employee’s Job Code, Title Code, Title, and Grade (if appropriate) using the following Action/Reason codes:
- Action/Reason code of Position Change/TSC (Title Sttr) if the title is changing but not the grade.
- Action/Reason code of Position Change/TSR (Ttl St Ral) if there is a change to both the title and the grade.
Subsequent effective dated rows will be updated as noted above, as appropriate.

Note: Employees in a Nurse 1 title (grade 14) may be eligible to move to a Graduate Nurse 1 title (grade 14) or a Registered Nurse 1 title (grade 18), depending on their qualifications. Therefore, OSC will update all employees in a Nurse 1 title to a Graduate Nurse 1 title (grade 14). Agencies will be responsible for determining to which title an employee is eligible. Please refer to Agency Actions Beginning in Pay Period 22L for additional information.

Job Data - Compensation

On 01/20/2023 (Administration) or 01/27/2023 (Institution), the salary will be updated for all eligible employees with a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence due to a Workers’ Compensation Leave (Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/WCL, WDL or WPS) and a Comp Rate Code of ANN.
Note: Employees occupying a title included on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocations list who have a Comp Rate Code of HRY or FEE will not automatically receive an increase in their rate. OSC is working with DOB regarding required agency actions to update these rates.
A row will be inserted on the employee’s Job Data page with the updated salary using the following Action/Reason codes:
- Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/RAL (Reallocatn) if the salary is based on the reallocation promotion calculation.
- Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/130 (Incr HR 130.4) if the salary is based on the approved 130.4 Impracticable to Recruit Increased Hiring Rate for the title and grade.
- Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Cor Sal) for all eligible subsequent effective dated rows.
The employee’s anniversary date on the inserted row will remain the same.
The employee’s increment code on the inserted row will be assigned based on the increment code in effect prior to the reallocation and if the salary upon reallocation is below job rate, equal to job rate or greater than job rate of the new grade. Please refer to the attached Upward Reallocation Salary Calculation Guidelines for information.

Note: OSC will not automatically insert a row to update the salary of employees in a Nurse 1 title that is updated to a Graduate Nurse 1 title. In addition to determining the employee’s appropriate title and grade upon reallocation, as noted above, agencies will be responsible for determining the appropriate salary. Please refer to Agency Actions Beginning in Pay Period 22L for additional information.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular and Time Entry earnings calculated by the system based on annual salary, such as OT for Annual 2080 (Earnings Code OCS) and Holiday Pay (Earnings Code HPA), resulting from the change in salary due to the reallocation.

Agency Actions Beginning in Pay Period 22L (Administration and Institution):

Employees Currently Occupying a PR-50 Underfill Position (NYS Position Beginning with 62) in Nurse 1 Titles (all parenthetics)

Since OSC cannot determine if employees in the Nurse 1 titles (grade 14) meet the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 titles (grade 18), OSC will automatically reallocate employees in a PR-50 underfill position in the Nurse 1 titles to the Graduate Nurse 1 titles (grade 14). Agencies must determine if these employees meet the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 titles (grade 18).

If the employee meets the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 titles (grade 18), the agency must submit a Position Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate effective date, the appropriate Reason code (see below) and update the value in the NYS Position field with the value in the Position Nbr field. The agency must also include the updated salary, appropriate anniversary date and appropriate increment code as explained in the attached Reallocation Salary Calculation Guidelines. Additional transactions should be submitted to update subsequent rows as appropriate.
- Reason Code RAL (Reallocatn) if the salary is based on the reallocation promotion calculation.
- Reason Code 130 (Incr HR 130.4) if the salary is based on the approved 130.4 for the title and grade.
If the employee does not meet the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 titles (grade 18), the employee will remain in the Graduate Nurse 1 titles (grade 14) PR-50 underfill position. If the employee’s attained salary falls below the approved 130.4 for the title and grade, the agency must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate effective date, the Reason Code 130 (Incr HR 130.4), and the appropriate increased salary. If the employee’s attained salary is equal to or greater than the approved 130.4 for the title and grade, no action is necessary. Additional transactions should be submitted to update subsequent rows as appropriate.

Employees Currently Occupying a Regular Position (Position Nbr = NYS Position) in Nurse 1 Titles (all parenthetics)

Since OSC cannot determine if employees in the Nurse 1 titles (grade 14) meet the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 titles (grade 18), OSC will automatically reallocate employees in a Regular Position in the Nurse 1 titles to the Graduate Nurse 1 titles (grade 14). Agencies must determine if these employees meet the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 title series (grade 18).

If the employee meets the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 title series (grade 18), the agency must move the employee to a vacant Registered Nurse 1 title series position by submitting a Position Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate effective date, the appropriate Reason code (see below), and entering the new position number in the Position Nbr and NYS Position fields. If the agency does not have a vacant Registered Nurse 1 titles series position, they must contact the Position Management Unit and request the employee’s current position be updated to the appropriate Registered Nurse 1 title. The agency must also include the updated salary, appropriate anniversary date and appropriate increment code as explained in the attached Reallocation Salary Calculation Guidelines. Additional transactions should be submitted to update subsequent rows as appropriate.
- Reason Code RAL (Reallocatn) if the salary is based on the reallocation promotion calculation.
- Reason Code 130 (Incr HR 130.4) if the salary is based on the approved 130.4 for the title and grade.
If the employee does not meet the qualifications of the Registered Nurse 1 titles (grade 18), the agency must move the employee to a vacant Registered Nurse 1 (grade 18) position and a PR-50 underfill position using the Graduate Nurse 1 title (grade 14) by submitting a Position Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate effective date, the appropriate Reason code (see below), and entering the new full position number in the Position Nbr field and the new PR-50 position number in the NYS Position field. If the agency does not have a vacant Registered Nurse 1 position, they must contact the Position Management Unit and request the employee’s current full position be updated to the appropriate Registered Nurse 1 title. The agency must also include the updated salary, appropriate anniversary date and appropriate increment code as explained in the attached Reallocation Salary Calculation Guidelines. Additional transactions should be submitted to update subsequent rows as appropriate.
- Reason Code RAL (Reallocatn) if the salary is not changing because the employee’s grade is not changing the employee’s current salary is above the approved 130.4 for the title and grade.
- Reason Code 130 (Incr HR 130.4) if the salary is based on the approved 130.4 for the title and grade.

Employees Not Processed Automatically:

Inactive or Leave of Absence (not related to Workers’ Compensation Leave)

Agencies must submit the appropriate transaction(s) to update the compensation for employees with a Comp Rate code of ANN who were inactive or had a Payroll Status of Leave of Absence not related to Workers’ Compensation Leave on the payment effective date upon return to the payroll. Please refer to the attached Upward Reallocation Salary Calculation Guidelines for information.

Hourly and FEE Employees

Employees occupying a title included on the attached Nursing Titles Reallocations list who have a Comp Rate Code of HRY or FEE will not automatically receive an increase in their rate. OSC is working with DOB regarding required agency actions to update these rates.

To Process Payments Manually

The following Action/Reason Code(s) must be used when submitting transactions through the Job Action Requests page to pay the updated salary as a result of the reallocation for eligible employees not processed automatically:

Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/RAL (Reallocatn) if the salary is based on the reallocation promotion calculation.
Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/130 (Incr HR 130.4) if the salary is based on the approved 130.4 Impracticable to Recruit Increased Hiring Rate for the title and grade.
Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Cor Sal) for all eligible subsequent effective dated rows for employees who have a Comp Rate Code of ANN.
Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CRT (Chg Rate) for all eligible subsequent effective dated rows for employees who have a Comp Rate Code of HRY.

In addition, the anniversary date and increment code information must be included on the above transaction.

The employee’s anniversary date will remain the same; therefore, no update is required.
The appropriate increment code must be included on the Job Action Requests transaction as provided in the attached Upward Reallocation Salary Calculation Guidelines.

Geographic Pay Differential (GEO) and/or Occupational Pay Differential (OPD)

Agencies must review employees receiving GEO and/or OPD to determine if the employees’ GEO and/or OPD pay needs to be updated as a result of the change in salary and grade due to the reallocation. Since GEO and OPD pay must be reduced by the amount the employee’s salary exceeds job rate, each employee eligible for GEO and/or OPD who experience a change is salary and grade must be evaluated to determine if their GEO and/or OPD amount must be adjusted. Agencies must insert a new row on the Additional Pay page using the appropriate effective date on or after 12/22/2022 (Administration) or 12/29/2022 (Institution) with the new GEO and/or OPD amount.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning in Institution or Administration Pay Period 21L, agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Extra Time Override (Earnings Code EXO) and Regular Salary Override (Earnings Code RGO).

Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, an 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 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 (Earnings Code 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 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 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 Covid-19 OT Override (Earnings Code CVO), Earnings Code ARC (Adjust Retro Raise for C19 OT) must be used to process the adjustment. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as Out of Title Overtime (Earnings Code OTT), Earnings Code ARO (Adj Retro Raise for OT and RCL) must be used to process the adjustment. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 Reporting Adjustments to Overtime for more information. Agencies must continue to use Earnings Code AJR (Adjust Raise) 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 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, and/or ARO
Amount:	Amount to be adjusted
Comments:	An explanation of the adjustment

Military Stipend Leave:

OSC will recalculate the military stipend amount for employees placed on a Paid or Unpaid Military Stipend Leave on or after the effective date of the payment as the result of new military orders.

If the employee received a stipend, OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page, effective the date the employee is entitled to the increase, using the Action/Reason Code of Pay Rate Change/MSC (Military Stipend Change) and will increase the employee’s biweekly stipend amount. In addition, updates will be made to all subsequent rows requiring an increased biweekly stipend amount.
If the employee did not receive a stipend but becomes eligible for a stipend as a result of the payment, OSC will insert the following in PayServ:
- A row on the employee’s Job Data page, effective the date the employee is entitled to a stipend, using the Action/Reason Code of Paid Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) and the new biweekly stipend amount.
- A row on the employee’s Job Data page for each affected subsequent row using the Action/Reason Code of Pay Rate Change/MSC (Military Stipend Change) and the new biweekly stipend amount.
- A row on the Time Entry page using the Earnings Code MSP (Military Stipend Payment) to pay the stipend for each pay period the employee is eligible.
- Any additional adjustment required due to the increased biweekly stipend amount, that will not be calculated automatically, will be reported by OSC on the Time Entry page using the Earnings Code AMS (Adjust Military Stipend).

General Deductions:

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

Code	Description
406	PEF 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
GARNSH	Garnishments
HIATRG	Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP	Special After Tax Health Adj
HIBTRG	Regular Before Tax Health
HIBTSP	Special Before Tax Health Adj

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 using Earnings Codes AJR, ARC, and ARO, and all retroactive adjustments using Earnings Codes 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 9857, OSC will report to the Social Security Administration (SSA) all retro payments made to individuals who have filed for Social Security benefits.

Since PayServ does not include this information, OSC will mail a Request for Special Wage Payment Report to inactive individuals who are 62 or older in the calendar year and 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 and return this request to OSC for inclusion on the Special Wage Payment report to SSA. This report will be submitted to SSA after the close of the 2023 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(s) and amount paid. Retroactive adjustments will also be displayed on employees’ paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description and amount paid, unless the number of Earnings Codes exceed 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.

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 position change requests may be directed to the Position Management mailbox.

Questions regarding military information may be directed to the Military Stipend mailbox.

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