Purpose

To inform agencies of new Time Entry code and to explain the agency procedures for reporting rate increases, lump sum payment and adjustments for “miscellaneous earnings".

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the title of Supervisor of Mechanics

Background

The rate increases and Ratification Bonus Payment are pursuant to the New York City Comptroller’s Consent Determination, dated 05/15/2015.

The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in a memorandum dated 09/01/2015 from Carmelo Batista, Jr.

Effective Date(s)

Increases can be submitted in Pay Period 15C (Institution), paychecks dated 10/29/2015. Rate increases are effective 09/09/2011, 09/09/2012, 09/09/2013, 09/09/2014, 09/09/2015, 09/09/2016 and 03/09/2017.

The Ratification Bonus Payment for $1,000 may be submitted in Pay Period 15C (Institution), paychecks dated 10/29/2015.

Eligibility Criteria

A one-time $1,000 Ratification Bonus Payment shall be payable to employees in the Supervisor of Mechanics Skilled Trade title who were on active payroll as of the day of ratification, November 17, 2014. The $1,000 Ratification Bonus Payment shall not become part of the employee’s basic salary rate nor be added to the employee’s basic salary for the calculation of any salary base benefits, including the calculation of future collective bargaining increases. This Ratification Bonus Payment is pensionable.

New Time Entry Code

New Time Entry Code

OSC has created a new Time Entry earnings code to pay the $1,000 Ratification Bonus Payment to those eligible employees who were on active payroll as of the day of ratification, November 17, 2014.

RBP – Ratification Bonus Payment

Agency Actions

Reporting the Rate Increases

To ensure all Job Action requests are submitted for each employee, the agency should submit requests in effective date order from oldest date to current date. For example, if appropriate, submit the 09/09/2011 Pay Change, followed by the 09/09/2012 Pay Change.

To increase the hourly rate(s), the agency must submit the following requests regardless of the employee’s status:

• For all rate increases, request a Pay Change with the Action/Reason code of PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) on the Job Action Requests page, using the effective date of the appropriate increase, and submit the new hourly rate.
• A separate request must be made for each of the rows that exist on the employee’s Job Data page.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments for All Miscellaneous Earnings

The agency must calculate and report the retroactive adjustment for all “miscellaneous earnings.”

The Time Entry Earnings Code AJR must be used to report the combined retroactive adjustment for all earnings. The agency must provide an explanation of the adjustment in the General Comments page or on a separate worksheet. If the agency uses a worksheet, the worksheet must be received in OSC’s Audit Section by the agency deadline for Pay Period 15C.

The Earnings Code AJR must be reported as follows:

Reporting the $1,000 Ratification Bonus Payment:

The agency must enter the Ratification Bonus Payment for eligible employees through the Time Entry page as follows:

OSC Actions

Processing Automatic Retroactive Adjustments

Provided the agency appropriately submits the applicable increases, OSC will automatically process the retroactive adjustments for all “regular hours”, RGH, and “miscellaneous earnings” of LT3 and AS5, paid to an employee regardless of the employee’s status. The agency should refer to the AJR procedure above to submit retroactive adjustments for all other “miscellaneous earnings”.

Deductions for Inactive Employees

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

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. Income taxes will be calculated using the employee’s current Tax Marital Status and Withholding Allowances on the Update Employee Tax Data page.

Undeliverable Paychecks

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. 908.

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). 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 associated amount. The description of each earnings code and the associated amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice unless there are more than 13 earnings codes. For these employees, agencies should utilize Locked Query #49 to identify a complete list of all regular earnings and retroactive adjustments.

Questions

Questions about processing transactions may be emailed to Payroll Earning mailbox.

Questions regarding Deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.

Questions regarding Taxes should be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.