Purpose

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

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the title of Maintenance Worker

Background

The rate increases are pursuant to a Consent Determination entered and filed on October 20, 2015 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and the City Employees Union Local 237 IBT for retroactive increases for employees in the title of Maintenance Worker. This determination covers the period March 4, 2010 through December 16, 2017.

The agreement provides for retroactive increases to the hourly rates effective 3/4/10, 9/4/11, 9/4/12, 9/4/13, 9/4/14, 9/4/15, 9/4/16 and 3/4/17.

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 date May 26, 2016. Rate increases are effective March 4, 2010 through December 16, 2017.

Eligibility Criteria and Lump Sum Payment

A one-time $1,000 Ratification Bonus Payment shall be payable to employees in the Maintenance Worker skilled trade title who were on active payroll as of the day of ratification, August 14, 2015. 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

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, August 14, 2015.

RBP – Ratification Bonus Payment

The new RBP Time Entry earnings code has been added to the NTS Earnings Program so that the agencies may enter the Lump Sum Payment accordingly.

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 03/04/10 Pay Change, followed by the 09/04/11 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.

Any Maintenance Worker hired before April 28, 2006 will be paid the new salary rates.

Any Maintenance Worker hired on or after April 28, 2006 will be paid a suppressed salary rate for two years.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustment for All Miscellaneous Earnings

The agency must calculate and report the retroactive adjustment for all 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 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 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:

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, LSL, LT3 and PLB, paid to an employee regardless of the employee’s status. 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

The salary increase and retroactive adjustments are taxable income, subject to all employment 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.

The Ratification Bonus (Earnings Code “RBP”) is also taxable income subject to employment and income taxes and will be taxed using the Supplemental Optional Flat Rate Method.

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.