State Agencies Bulletin No. 703

Subject
Changes to Inconvenience Pay for Employees Represented by NYSCOPBA (Bargaining Unit 01)
Date Issued
February 28, 2007

Purpose

To provide instructions to implement the new payment.

Affected Employees

Arbitration-eligible Department of Correctional Services employees represented by NYSCOPBA (BU01) in the following titles:

  • Correction Officer
  • Correction Officer Spanish Language
  • Correction Officer Trainee
  • Correction Officer Trainee Spanish Language
  • Correction Sergeant
  • Community Correctional Center Assistant 
  • Institution Safety Officer

Background

Pursuant to Chapter 113 of the Laws of 2006 which implements the Arbitration Award between New York State and the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) and provides salary and other payment increases for those employees covered by the award.

This bulletin relates to the processing of retroactive changes to Inconvenience Pay.

A side letter dated 12/1/06 and the Arbitration Award Amendment dated 12/5/06 clarified the increase into annual amounts to expedite the implementation of the Inconvenience Pay increase.

Beginning April 1, 2006, employees who work the evening shift are eligible to receive $1,800 annually; and employees who work the night shift are eligible to receive $900 annually. These changes must be signed into law before these payments can be paid under the new method. OSC will notify agencies when the law governing these payments has been implemented and the payments may be submitted.

Effective Date(s)

Increases are effective 3/30/06 for Institution and 4/6/06 for Administration agencies.

Agencies will be notified by OSC when the payments may be entered.

Payment Amounts and Eligibility

Effective 3/30/06 for Institution and 4/6/06 for Administration agencies:

Inconvenience Pay

In a side letter dated 12/1/06, the Governor's Office of Employee Relations has defined the evening and night shifts for the purpose of payment of the new Inconvenience Pay program for NYSCOPBA. The shifts are as follows:

Night shifts are defined as any shift that begins at or between 7:00 p.m. and 2:59 a.m. Employees assigned to work the night shift shall receive $900 annually.

Evening shifts are defined as any shift that begins at or between 11:00 a.m. and 6:59 p.m. Employees assigned to work the evening shift shall receive $1,800 annually.

Day shifts are defined as any shift that begins at or between 3:00 a.m. and 10:59 a.m. Employees assigned to work the day shift are not entitled to Inconvenience Pay.

All employees who are full-time or on a paid leave of absence are eligible to receive Inconvenience Pay as determined by the employee's work shift.

Inconvenience Pay Partial and Intermittent Inconvenience Pay will continue based on the new rates listed above. Inconvenience Pay Partial is any combination of evening, night and/or day shifts, and must not exceed $1,710 annually.

Inconvenience Pay Partial
  • Evening shift:
    • $180 annually for each day in a biweekly period the employee is regularly scheduled to work the evening shift.
  • Night shift:
    • $90 annually for each day in a biweekly period the employee is regularly scheduled to work the night shift.
Intermittent Inconvenience Pay
  • Evening shift
    • $6.90 per shift (non-leap year)
    • $6.89 per shift (leap year)
  • Night shift
    • $3.45 per shift (non-leap year)
    • $3.44 per shift (leap year)
Overtime Intermittent Inconvenience Pay
  • Evening shift
    • $1.35 per hour
  • Night shift
    • $0.67 per hour

Note: Inconvenience Pay is pensionable and is included in the calculation of overtime.

OSC Actions New Codes

OSC has created the following new Additional Pay and Time Entry earnings codes to pay the new Inconvenience Pay amounts:

Additional Pay:
IFE - Inconvenience Full Evenings (replaces Earnings Code IPF)
AFE - Adjust Inconvenience Full Evenings (replaces Earnings Code AIF)
IFN - Inconvenience Full Nights (replaces Earnings Code IPF)
ACF - Adjust Inconvenience Full Nights (replaces Earnings Code AIF)
IPC - Inconvenience Part (replaces Earnings Code IPP)
APC - Adjust Inconvenience Part (replaces Earnings Code AIP)
Time Entry:
IIE - Intermittent Inconvenience Pay Evenings (replaces Earnings Code IIP)
IIN - Intermittent Inconvenience Pay Nights (replaces Earnings Code IIP)
OIE - Overtime with IIE (replaces Earnings Code (OIS)
OIN - Overtime with IIN (replaces Earnings Code (OIS)

OSC Actions - Ending Inconvenience Pay

In the pay period in which the payments will be made, OSC will end any Inconvenience Pay rows that exist for an employee from 3/30/06 (Inst) or 4/6/06 (Admin) to the current date.

  • For employees who have been paid Inconvenience Pay (IPF or IPP) prior to April 2006 and have no rows dated 3/30/06 (Inst) or 4/6/06 (Admin) or after on the Additional Pay page, OSC will insert an End Date of 3/29/06 or 4/5/06 (last day payment is due) on the last row.
  • In addition to inserting an End Date to end the Inconvenience Pay on 3/29/06 or 4/5/06, for employees who have rows for IPP or IPF since 3/30/06 (Inst) or 4/6/06 (Admin) with no End Date, OSC will add an End Date to the row using the Effective date of the row as the End Date.

The Retro process will be allowed to process as normal. This will recover any Inconvenience Pay that has been paid since April 2006 as well as any Pre-Shift Briefing or Miscellaneous Earnings that use Inconvenience Pay in the calculation: i.e. overtime, lost time, holiday, etc.

Note: OSC will enter all transactions for employees who have changed bargaining units or moved from Institution to Administration agencies.

Agency Actions

After notification from OSC, agencies may begin submitting the new Inconvenience Pay amounts for eligible employees using the new earnings codes listed above. All transactions must be entered in the same pay period that OSC ends the old Inconvenience Pay. These transactions must be completed by the agency cutoff unless permission is received from OSC.

Note: The Department of Correctional Services must provide OSC with the information for employees who have moved to agencies other than DOCS. To pay these employees on time, OSC must receive this information prior to OSC ending the old Inconvenience Pay codes.

Inconvenience Pay Full or Partial

Agencies are responsible for entering all rows on Inconvenience Pay necessary to recreate the earnings for the employee.

  • If the employee worked one shift on a continual basis prior to April 2006, the agency must enter one (1) row to start the proper shift on 3/30/06.
  • If the employee needs entries for any combination of the new shifts, the agency must end the first shift before starting the new shift. An End Date can be added directly to the row starting the earnings.
  • If the employee has any row on the Job Data page that created a row on the IPF or IPP earnings, the agency must add a row using the new earn code with the effective date of the Job transaction. For example, if an employee went on Sick Leave at Half Pay, a row must be added using the date of the sick leave. Another row with the date of the Return from Leave must also be added.
  • If an employee has been on and off Inconvenience Pay throughout the time, rows starting the earnings can have an End Date on the same row. This will save entry of rows to end the payments.
  • If an employee was on a leave of absence without pay, the agency must enter a row to end the Inconvenience Pay on the date before the leave or add the End Date to the row that started the Inconvenience Pay.

Agencies must use the following procedures when reporting the new Inconvenience Pay on the Additional Pay page: For eligible employees on the evening shift:

Earnings Code: IFE
Effective Date: 3/30/06 (Institution) or 4/6/06 (Administration) or the date the employee becomes eligible
End Date: If necessary
Annual Addl Earnings: $1800.00

Adjustments to IFE must be made using the new Earnings Code AFE.

For eligible employees on the night shift:

Earnings Code: IFN
Effective Date: 3/30/06 (Institution) or 4/6/06 (Administration) or the date the employee becomes eligible
End Date: If necessary
Annual Addl Earnings: $900.00

Adjustments to IFN must be made using the new Earnings Code AFN.

For eligible employees working part of their regular schedule on an evening and/or night shift in the same biweekly pay period:

Earnings Code: IPC
Effective Date: 3/30/06 (Institution) or 4/6/06 (Administration) or the date the employee becomes eligible
End Date: If necessary
Annual Addl Earnings: Appropriate Amount

Note: The amount for IPC must be in multiples of $90, not to exceed $1,710.

Adjustments to IPC must be made using the new Earnings Code APC.

For employees who have moved out of the Department of Correctional Services after 4/6/06, the new agency will not be able to enter the new Additional Pay code amounts. Therefore, DOCS must contact OSC with the new Inconvenience Pay earnings for employees who are eligible for the new earnings prior to leaving the DOCS agency. This should be done be e-mail to [email protected]. Upon receipt, OSC will enter this information to pay the new Inconvenience Pay.

Intermittent Inconvenience Pay

Agencies must report the increased amount of Intermittent Inconvenience Pay using the following procedures:

Agencies must recover the original Intermittent Inconvenience Pay by entering an IIP transaction using a minus sign on the Time Entry page and the same earnings Begin and End Dates for the entire period of the payments.

Agencies may then enter the number of units for the new shifts by entering the following on the Time Entry page:

Earnings Code: IIE or IIN
Earn Begin Date: Same as previously reported IIP transaction date
Earn End Date: Same as previously reported IIP transaction date
Hours/Units: Total number of shifts (by each shift)

Overtime Codes
The same procedure must be used to recover the Overtime Inconvenience Pay earnings and to pay the new amounts.

  • Note: The total number of the new earnings paid must not exceed the number shifts or overtime hours recovered.
Earnings Code: OIE or OIN
Earn Begin Date: Same as previously reported OIS transaction date
Earn End Date: Same as previously reported OIS transaction date
Hours/Units: Total number of overtime hours (for each shift)

Miscellaneous Payment Information

Time Entry transactions can be entered by DOCS agencies using the exact dates of the earnings regardless whether the employee has left the agency. Time Entry should be processed by the facility that originally paid the IIP.

If an Additional Pay transaction is submitted after Pay Period 1 with an effective date prior to 03/29/07 (Institution) or 04/05/07 (Administration) with either no end date or an end date after 03/29/07 (Institution) or 04/05/07 (Administration) the agency must submit a leap year factor row with an effective date of 03/29/07 (Institution) or 04/05/07 (Administration) and the appropriate amount of Inconvenience Pay.

Inconvenience Pay is pensionable and is included in the calculation of overtime.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

PayServ will automatically calculate retroactive payments resulting from the above Additional Pay changes.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid from more than one (1) Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, the retroactive adjustment for earnings in each Employee Record Number will be paid in the most current agency, on the appropriate pay cycle, under each Employee Record Number.

Retroactive Adjustments for Additional Pay and Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earn codes that are calculated based on an employee’s additional salary factors such as overtime (OTA) and holiday (HPA) will be automatically adjusted.

Pre-Shift Briefing (PS1) paid in Additional Pay will also be automatically adjusted due to the above increases.

Deduction Information

All general deductions for employees whose status is Terminated, Retired or Deceased will be automatically cancelled by OSC with the exception of the following:

Code Narrative
410 Health Care Spending Account
420 NY Dependent Care Contribution
425 Repay State Loans/Debt
426 Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428 Dependent Care
433 Total Unemployment Ins Owed
500 Medicare Deficiency
501 Social Security 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

Undeliverable Checks

Inactive employees may be eligible for a payment as a result of the salary adjustment. If the agency has made an effort to deliver the check to the employee but the check has been returned and is undeliverable, the agency should forward the check to the NYS Department of Tax and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 456.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P) and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P).

For recipients of a previously deceased employee's payroll checks where a Next of Kin Affidavit and Report of Check Exchange form have been submitted, OSC will accept a photocopy of these forms to process the exchange of the check.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

The Earn Codes IFE, AFE, IFN, ACF, IPC, APC, IIE, IIN, OIE, and OIN and the payment amounts will be displayed on the payroll register as applicable. The following earn code descriptions and amounts will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice:

IFE Inconvenience Full Evening
AFE Adjust Inconvenience Full Evenings
IFN Inconvenience Full Nights
ACF Adjust Inconvenience Full Nights
IPC Inconvenience Part
APC Adjust Inconvenience Part
IIE Intermittent Inconvenience Pay Evenings
IIN Intermittent Inconvenience Pay Nights
OIE Overtime with IIE
OIN Overtime with IIN

Control-D Report

After the process to end payments is completed, OSC will issue a Control-D report listing all employees for whom Inconvenience Pay was ended.

Questions

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