Purpose

To explain the agency procedures for reporting retroactive rate increases and adjustments for miscellaneous earnings.

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the title of High Pressure Plant Tender

Background

A Consent Determination was entered and filed on February 19, 2016 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO for employees in the title High Pressure Plant Tender. The agreement provides for retroactive increases to the hourly rates effective July 1, 2010 through January 31, 2018.

The agreement provides for increases to the hourly rates effective 7/1/10, 1/1/12, 1/1/13, 1/1/14, 1/1/15, 11/1/15, 1/1/16, 1/1/17 and 7/1/17.

The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in a memorandum from Carmelo Batista, Jr. dated March 14, 2016.

Effective Date(s)

Increases may be submitted in Pay Period 4C (Institution), paychecks dated May 26, 2016. Rate increases are effective July 1, 2010 through January 31, 2018.

Agency Actions

Reporting the Rate Increases

To ensure all Job Action requests are submitted for each employee, the agency must submit requests in effective date order from oldest date to current date. For example, if appropriate, submit the 07/01/10 Pay Change, followed by the 01/01/12 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 of Pay Rt Chg/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) on the Job Action Request page, using the effective date of the appropriate increase, and submit the new hourly rate.
• A separate request must be made for each subsequent row that exists on the employee’s Job Data page.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustment for All Miscellaneous Earnings

The agency must calculate and report the retroactive adjustment for certain skilled trade miscellaneous earnings.

The Earnings Code AJR must be used to report the combined retroactive adjustment for all miscellaneous earnings. The agency must provide an explanation of the adjustment on 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 the Pay Period before the retroactive increases take effect in Pay Period 4C. This will allow the Audit staff at OSC time to review the retroactive transactions.

The Earnings Code AJR must be reported 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, LSL, LT3 and PLB, 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 .

Deduction Information for Inactive Employees

All general deductions for employees whose Payroll 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.

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.

Undeliverable Checks

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), 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.

Questions

Questions regarding transactions may be emailed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

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

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