SUNY Bulletin No. SU-317

Subject
2021 UUP Discretionary Increases
Date Issued
November 23, 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide instructions to campuses for processing United University Professions (UUP) Discretionary Increases.

Affected Employees

SUNY Professional Services employees in Bargaining Unit 08 who meet the eligibility criteria and are selected by the campus President are affected.

Background

Chapter 263 of the Laws of 2018 implemented the agreement between the State of New York and UUP provides for Discretionary Increases for UUP BU 08 employees. Payment of the increases is at the discretion of the Campus President and may be made to employees who are incumbents on the payroll (active or approved leave) on 06/30/2021.

Per the contract language, Article 20.10, the Discretionary Increase is comprised of two one-half percent parts. SUNY System Administration will provide campuses with details regarding the calculation and funding of these payments.

Effective Dates

SUNY System Administration has designated Pay Period 17L, paychecks dated 12/08/2021, Pay Period 18L, paychecks dated 12/22/21, and Pay Period 19L, paychecks dated 01/05/2022 as pay periods in which campuses can submit their UUP 2021 Discretionary Increases. Rosters for Pay Period 17L are due to SUNY by 11/16/2021. 11/30/2021. Rosters for Pay Period 19L are due to SUNY by 12/14/2021.

Effective dates of increases based on professional obligation:

Comp Rate Code Effective Date – 2021 Increase
ANN and CYF 07/01/2021
21P and CYP 08/19/2021
CAL 09/01/2021
HRY or BIW Based on Date of Obligation

Eligibility Criteria

Employees selected by the campus president who meet the following criteria on 06/30/2021 AND on 09/15/2021 (Administration 12L Pay End Date) are eligible to receive the Discretionary Increase. In addition, employees receiving the 0.5% allocated to discretion in PP17 must be active or on an approved leave on 11/24/2021 (Pay Period 17L end date). Employees receiving the 0.5% allocated to discretion in PP18 or PP19 must be active or in approved leave status on 12/08/2021 (Pay Period 18L end date). Employees receiving a 0.5% allocated to compression do not need to be on the payroll at the time of payment.

  • Bargaining Unit = 08
  • Salary Grade = 980
  • Comp Rate Code = ANN, CYF, 21P, CAL, BIW, HRY, FEE
  • Payroll Status = Active or Approved Leave

In addition, part-time employees who meet the above criteria on 04/30/2021 whose employment expired prior to 07/01/2021 are eligible for the discretionary increase if they are re-employed, meet the above criteria, and are selected by the campus president.

Agency Actions

Prior to processing the payments, campuses must complete a roster identifying employees who will receive a UUP 2021 Discretionary Increase. The roster must include the increased salary, signed by the campus president, and forwarded to SUNY System Administration. A copy of this roster will be provided to OSC in Excel format.

To process the Discretionary Increase for eligible employees, agencies must submit a Job Action Request transaction using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase).

  • For eligible employees with the of ANN or CYF, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 07/01/2021.
  • For eligible employees with the Comp Rate Code of 21P or CYP, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 08/19/2021.
  • For eligible employees with the Comp Rate Code of CAL, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 09/01/2021.
  • For eligible employees with the Comp Rate Code of BIW or HRY, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted based on date of obligation.

Subsequent Rows

Agencies must submit Pay Rate Change transactions using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate change/CSL (Correct Salary) to update any subsequent rows that appear on the employee’s Job Data record, provided the employee remained in BU08.

OSC Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular earnings and Time Entry earnings calculated by the system based on annual salary, such as OT at 1.5 (OTA) and Lump Sum Annual (LSA), resulting from payment of the 2021 Discretionary Increase for employees in Bargaining Unit 08.

Campus Action – Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

Time Entry earnings codes, submitted with an amount, will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning Administration Pay Period 17L, campuses must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Balance of Contract (BAL), Lump Sum Payment Override (LSI), and FEE.

Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the campus 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 the 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 (OTA), 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 the 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 the 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 overtime such as CVO, ARC must be used. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OTT, ARO must be entered. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 for more information. Agencies must continue to use AJR 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 the 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, or ARO
Amount: Amount to be adjusted
Comments: An explanation of the adjustment

General Deductions

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

Code Narrative
406 Strike/Disp 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
673 SUNY ORP Before Tax Arrears
674 SUNY ORP Suspense BTax Arrears
GARNSH Garnishments
HIATRG Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP Special After Tax Health Adj

Tax Information

The adjustments (AJR and Retro (RXX)) are supplemental taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are 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 (2.30815% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

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 - Non-Negotiated and/or Undeliverable New York State Payroll Checks.

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.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate Earnings Code and the amount paid. These adjustments will also be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description with the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Campuses 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.

Questions

Questions regarding eligibility for this payment may be directed to SUNY System Administration.

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