Purpose

To explain the procedures for processing payments for CUNY faculty who have been awarded a summer research grant.

Affected Employees

Full-time CUNY instructional staff

Background

Pursuant to an agreement between the City University of New York and the CUNY Research Foundation, certain professional staff will receive payments that will be reimbursed by the CUNY Research Foundation (CUNY RF) for research work performed. The payment is processed through the payroll system to facilitate crediting retirement service. Work may be performed in any facility, but must be paid from the college where the employee is employed on a full-time basis and must be reported using the attached Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule.

The earnings are pensionable and subject to dues.

Effective Date

Agencies should refer to the CUNY RF Payment Authorization Form and the Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule for initial check date

Agency Actions

The agency must submit the CUNY RF Payment Authorization 2008 Summer Salary Awards Form prior to the submission of the payment. Any changes made after the initial award is established must be submitted to OSC on a subsequent report.

The agency must enter the Earnings Code CGR (CUNY Grant Recipient) on the Additional Pay page with the following information:

In order to process the CGR payment, the agency must have the CUNY RF Payment Authorization Form and the Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule.

• If the earnings are to be paid in a single payment, the Earnings and Goal Amount must be equal.
• If the payments are to be made in multiple installments, the Goal Amount must be divided by the number of payments to be made (using the Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule). That amount should be entered into the Earnings field. The system will pay the amount in the Earnings field until the Goal Amount is met. Each payment will be reflected in the Goal Balance and when the Goal Balance is equal to the Goal Amount, the payments will end.
• If the Earnings and/or Goal Amount change before the Goal Amount is reached, the Effective Date field of the new effective dated row must represent the first day of the pay period that corresponds with the Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule. The agency must enter a new amount in the Earnings or Goal Amount fields as required. The Goal Balance must not be changed.
• If the grant has been paid in full and a new grant payment is to be processed, enter a new effective dated row, using the Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule to determine the effective date. The agency must enter the new Earnings and Goal Amount as required. The Goal Balance must be changed to zero (0).
• If the employee incurs an overpayment and the employee remains Active and receiving regular wages, the agency must insert a new effective dated row in the CGR earnings and enter a minus amount in the Earnings and Goal Amount fields as needed to recover the overpayment. The overpayment will be recovered from the employee’s regular paycheck. The Goal Balance must be changed to zero (0).
• If the employee is Inactive and it is determined that the employee is due a new award or an additional amount, the agency must insert a new effective dated row using the Earn Code CGR and refer to the Summer Research Lag Payment Schedule to determine the pay period effective date.
• If the employee is separated from State service in the full-time record and it is determined that the employee is overpaid, the agency must enter an OVP on the full-time record to recover the overpayment from future earnings. Exception: If the employee is Active in another record, set up an OVP in the Active record.

Example: If the start date provided by the CUNY RF Payment Authorization Form is June 3, the first check will be July 17; if the work completion date is August 10, the final check date is September 11. Since there are five paychecks between July 17 and September 11, the employee will be paid in five installments beginning with the check dated July 17. However, if the July 17 check has already been processed, the agency must determine, using the next available check date to be processed, the number of payments remaining.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.