Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly payroll offices of OSC’s automatic processing of the 2023 Year End Adjustments for Members of the NYS Legislature, and to provide instructions for reporting transactions in Administration Pay Period 19C.

Affected Employees:

Members of the NYS Legislature who are paid using Comp Rate Code LEG in the following departments are affected:

• 04210 NYS Senate Members
• 04220 NYS Assembly Members
• 04320 NYS Assembly Special Allowance

Background:

Pursuant to Article 2, Section 5 of the New York State Legislative Law, the total regular earnings received by Senate and Assembly members each calendar year must equal the amount of their statutory salary, provided the Member serves the entire year. The total regular earnings received by Members who serve only part of the year must equal the prorated statutory salary, based on the number of calendar days actually served in the calendar year.

In addition, if a Member on the Assembly Special Allowance payroll has an allowance change during the year, the total earnings received for the year must equal the composite statutory salary, based on the number of calendar days served at each statutory salary rate.

To ensure that Members are paid their statutory salary, prorated statutory salary or composite statutory salary, whichever is applicable, an adjustment of regular earnings must be paid in the final paycheck of the calendar year.

Effective Dates:

The adjustments will be paid in Administration Pay Period 19C, paychecks dated 12/20/2023.

Eligibility Criteria:

Departments 04210 and 04220

Members who serve the entire calendar year are eligible for a year end adjustment in the final paycheck of the calendar year because the Member’s statutory salary of $110,000 is not evenly divisible by 26 pay periods. Members who serve only part of the year but are active on 12/31/2023 are also eligible for a year end adjustment in the final paycheck of the year, unless the total amount of regular earnings paid in the calendar year equals the Member’s prorated statutory salary.

Department 04320

Members of the Assembly Special Allowance payroll who serve all or part of the year and are active on 12/31/2023 are eligible for a year end adjustment, unless the total amount of regular earnings paid within the calendar year provides the Member with their statutory, prorated statutory or composite statutory salary, whichever is applicable.

Exception Listings and Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

Exception listings and a Control-D report will be available for agency review on 11/30/2023 (after Administration Pay Period 18C, paychecks dated 12/06/2023 are confirmed).

Exception Listings

Exception listings identify Members who will not receive an automatic year end adjustment based on the following exception criteria. OSC will, however, calculate normal biweekly earnings for these employees. A summary of the results of these listings will be emailed to the respective payroll offices.

• Members who have an OVP or Q06-Q23, QC0 or QC1 balance for calendar year 2023
• Employees who transferred into a Member position with a Comp Rate Code of LEG on 12/23/2022 or later
• Members who were returned to the payroll using the Action Rehire or Return from Leave on 12/23/2022 or later
• Members who have RGS earnings paid in calendar year 2023 but earned in a previous year

Control-D Report NPAY586

The Control-D report Comp Rate Code LEG Year End Adjustments identifies Members tentatively scheduled to receive the automatic year end adjustment. The amount identified in the “RGS Balance Due” column is the amount of RGS that will be paid in the final paycheck of the year.

Agency Actions in Administration Pay Period 19C:

The agency must calculate and submit a transaction in Administration Pay Period 19C as follows to pay the year end adjustment to those Members who appear on any of the exception listings:

1. Determine the amount of salary entitlement for calendar year 2023 using the statutory, prorated statutory or composite statutory salary calculation provided in Statutory Salary Calculation.
2. Total all monies the Member earned and was paid in calendar year 2023 using Earnings Codes RGS, RGO, RRS, and ADJ. In addition, include monies that will be calculated by the payroll system using Earnings Code RGS in Administration Pay Period 19C.
3. Subtract the total earnings in Step #2 from the Member’s statutory salary determined in Step #1.

The difference from Step #3 must be submitted on the Time Entry page using Earnings Code ADJ (Adjustment) with the following information:

Information regarding the ADJ calculation must be included on the General Comments page.

Removal of Members

Members Removed from the Payroll in Administration Pay Period 19C

If a member does not serve through 12/31/2023 and the removal transaction is effective and reported in Administration Pay Period 19C, the year-end adjustment will not be automatically calculated. The agency must report the Earnings Code RGO with the appropriate amount of earnings the Member is eligible to receive in the final paycheck of the year. When this code is used, the earnings code RGS will not be processed.

Members Whose Term Ends 12/31/2023

Agencies must not submit transactions to remove a Member whose term will be ending on 12/31/2023 and will not serve in calendar year 2024 in Administration Pay Period 19C. These transactions should be submitted in Administration Pay Period 20C after paychecks dated 12/20/2023 have been confirmed on 12/13/2023. Since Members will receive their statutory salary in paychecks dated 12/20/2023, the effective date of the termination must be 12/21/2023. 

Automatic OSC Processing:

OSC will automatically calculate the year end adjustment for Members who meet the following criteria and who do not appear on any of the exception listings:

• Members who have a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on 12/22/2022 and who do not have a status change or change in salary through 12/31/2023.
• Members who are newly appointed using the Action Hire or Concurrent Hire with a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on or after 12/22/2022 and who do not have a status change or change in salary through 12/31/2023.
• Members on the Assembly Special Allowance payroll who have a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on 12/22/2022 and who do not have a status change through 12/31/2023 but who do have a change in salary.
• Members who are newly appointed to the Assembly Special Allowance payroll using the Action Hire or Concurrent Hire with a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on or after 12/23/2022 and who do not have a status change through 12/31/2023, but who do have a change in salary.

Statutory Salary Calculation

The Member’s salary entitlement will be determined using one of the following methods:

Statutory Salary:  The Member served the entire calendar year at one salary.

1. Use the Member’s Annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page as the Member’s statutory salary.

Prorated Statutory Salary:  The Member served a portion of the calendar year at one salary.

1. Determine the number of calendar days the Member served between each effective dated row beginning with 01/01/2023 through 12/31/2023 (regardless of whether the row represents a salary change).
2. Divide the number of days served between each effective dated row determined in Step #1 by 365 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
3. Multiply the result from Step #2 by the Member’s Annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page for that period of time and round to two (2) decimal places.
4. Add each result from Step #3 to determine the Member’s prorated statutory salary.

Composite Statutory Salary:  A Member on the Assembly Special Allowance payroll who served the entire calendar year at more than one salary or a portion of the calendar year at more than one salary.

1. Determine the number of calendar days the Member served between each effective dated row beginning with 01/01/2023 through 12/31/2023 (regardless of whether the row represents a salary change).
2. Divide the number of days served between each effective dated row determined in Step #1 by 365 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
3. Multiply each result from Step #2 by the Member’s Annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page for that period of time and round to two (2) decimal places.
4. Add each result from Step #3 to determine the Member’s composite statutory salary.

Automatic Year End Adjustment Calculation

OSC will calculate the Member’s year end adjustment as follows:

1. Total all monies the Member earned and was paid in calendar year 2023 (12/22/2022 through 12/06/2023) using Earnings Code RGS, RGO, RRS, and ADJ.
2. Subtract the total earnings calculated in Step #1 from the Member’s statutory salary, prorated statutory salary or composite statutory salary as determined above.
3. The difference from Step #2 will be paid in Administration Pay Period 19C using Earnings Code RGS.

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review on 12/14/2023, after the year end adjustment has been processed:

NPAY586 – Comp Rate Code LEG Year End Adjustment

This report identifies all Members who automatically received a year end adjustment in Administration Pay Period 19C, paycheck dated 12/20/2023.

Overtime and Retirement Information

These monies are pensionable but are not included in the calculation of overtime.

Tax Information:

These monies are taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are subject to all employment taxes and income taxes.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

The Earnings Code RGS and the amount paid will be displayed on the Payroll Register. The Earnings Description Regular Pay Salary Employee and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

In addition, if applicable, the Earnings Code ADJ and the amount paid will be displayed on the Payroll Register. The Earnings Description Adjustment and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

If the Earnings Code RGO is reported, this earnings code will replace Earnings Code RGS and will be displayed on the Payroll Register with the amount paid. The Earnings Description Regular Pay Override and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions

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