State Agencies Bulletin No. 726

Subject
Implementation of New Method of Calculating Salaries for Employees upon Movement from Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Non-Statutory (N/S) to Graded Positions
Date Issued
April 18, 2007
Status
Rescinded - Refer to #835
Status Date
August 26, 2008

Purpose

To provide agencies with information and procedures regarding the calculation of affected employees’ salaries and the processing of necessary salary corrections.

Affected Employees

Non-Statutory employees represented by CSEA who moved to graded positions since April 1, 2003 or will move in the future

Background

Pursuant to Chapter 103 of the Laws of 2005 which amends Civil Service Law, Section 131.5 and clarifies the computation of salaries for certain employees who move from unallocated or Non-Statutory (N/S) to statutorily graded positions. The legislation calls for a new option for calculating salaries for affected employees in addition to the existing methods of determining salaries.

Effective Date(s)

The new method of calculating salaries for affected CSEA employees is effective April 1, 2003.

Agencies may begin to submit transactions for eligible employees in Pay Period 3L for paychecks dated 5/24/07 (Institution) and 5/30/07 (Administration).

Eligibility

To be eligible for the new method of calculation, employees must be in a CSEA non-statutory Annual or Hourly position immediately prior to moving to a graded position.

The Long Term Seasonal side letter and rules effective September 2004 still apply for Parks and Environmental Conservation agencies. All other CSEA seasonal employees are covered under Civil Service Law, Section 131.5b.

The calculation method described below should be applied for determining the salary when these employees move to a graded position.

Method of Calculation under Civil Service Law, Section 131.5

The following procedures should be used as an option when calculating the salary of employees moving from an unallocated N/S to a graded position and where the hiring rate of the graded position that the employee is moving to is greater than the employee’s current unallocated N/S salary.

Promotions from “Equated to Grade” Positions
  • If the unallocated N/S position that the incumbent is moving from has been equated to a grade by the Division of the Budget, then the grade equation shall be used as the starting grade of the promotion calculation. For example, an employee who is equated to a grade 15 and moves to a grade 18 position would be eligible to receive a 6% promotion percentage on the employee's unallocated N/S equated to grade salary. If an employee is in a position that is equated to a grade but the unallocated N/S salary is outside the range of the equated grade’s hiring or job rate, this method must not be used to calculate the employee’s new salary. The “Movement from 'Not to Exceed' Positions” method described below must be used.
Lateral Movement from “Equated Grade” Positions
  • If the incumbent is moving from an N/S position with an equated grade to a graded position with the same grade, the N/S salary can be retained upon movement to the graded position.
Demotions from “Equated Grade” Positions
  • If the incumbent is moving from an N/S position with an equated grade to a lower graded position, the salary should be calculated using the higher grade service to build the salary in the lower grade or the incumbent’s current N/S salary not to exceed the job rate of the lower grade.
Movement from “Not To Exceed” Positions
  • If the unallocated N/S position that an employee is moving from is outside the range of the equated grade or has not been equated to a grade by the Division of the Budget and the employee has been paid with a "not to exceed" authorization level, the starting grade level for the promotion calculation is determined by assigning the unallocated N/S salary to the highest grade level where the salary reaches hiring rate on the salary schedule of the bargaining unit from which the incumbent is moving. The promotion percentage between this starting grade level and the grade level to which the employee is moving must be determined and then the appropriate promotion percentage must be applied to the unallocated N/S salary.

Note: If the starting grade level is determined to be higher than the grade level to which the employee is moving to, calculate the employee’s new salary using the information described above for "Demotions from ‘Equated Grade’ Positions.”

Movement from an Hourly Position
  • When an employee moves from an hourly N/S position to a graded position, the hourly rate must be converted to an annual rate by multiplying the hourly rate by 2088. The annual rate then can be used to calculate the employee’s new salary using the information described above for "Movement from 'Not to Exceed' Positions."

Note: According to this bulletin, calculating salaries for employees who are moving from bargaining units other than CSEA are not eligible for this new method of calculation. Salaries for other than CSEA employees must be calculated using the existing methods as stated in Part 1 of the OSC Salary Manual.

For calculating salaries for M/C employees, reference Payroll Bulletin No. 682 regarding movement from Management/Confidential non-statutory (N/S) to graded positions.

OSC Actions

Following the release of this bulletin, OSC will provide agencies with a Control-D report NHRPTP13 listing employees who meet the above eligibility criteria. Employees who appear on the report have met the initial eligibility but need to be reviewed by the agency to determine whether the new calculation option is higher than the calculation previously paid.

Agency Actions

Beginning in Pay Period 3L, agencies may begin to submit salary corrections effective 4/1/03 or later for employees identified by OSC as possible candidates for salary calculation under the new option; agencies may use the new method of calculation, if appropriate, for current and future position changes that meet the above eligibility criteria.

If agencies identify employees who do not appear on the Control-D report NHRPTP13, the agency should send an email the Salary Determination mailbox to ensure that the employee is eligible prior to submitting the salary correction.

Agencies must submit Pay Change Requests using the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for all affected rows on the employee’s Job Data history.

Agencies must include a summary of how the requested salary calculation was reached in the Remarks section of the Pay Change Request.

Control-D Report

NHRPTP13 Report

This report identifies employees who may be eligible to receive the new method of calculating salaries for employees upon movement from CSEA N/S to graded positions. The report identifies EmplID, Name, Rcd #, Pay Basis Code, Bargaining Unit, Status, Pay Cycle and Effective Date of initial movement from N/S to graded position.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Salary Determination mailbox.