Purpose

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

Affected Employees

CUNY employees in the titles of Plumber, Supervisor Plumber, Plumber’s Helper, Thermostat Repairer and Supervisor Thermostat Repairer

Background

A Consent Determination was entered and filed on November 2, 2018 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and the Plumbers Local Union No. 1, U.A. for retroactive increases for employees in the title of Plumber, Supervisor Plumber, Plumber’s Helper, Thermostat Repairer and Supervisor Thermostat Repairer. This determination provides for a retroactive increase to the hourly rates effective 01/01/2018, and 07/01/2018.

The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in the Carmelo Batista, Jr. memorandum dated February 13, 2019.

Effective Date(s)

The retroactive increases may be submitted in Pay Period 26C (Institution), paychecks dated March 28, 2019.

Eligibility Criteria

General Wage Increase - CUNY employees represented by the Plumbers Local Union No. 1, U.A. who are in the eligible title of Plumber, Supervisor Plumber, Plumber’s Helper, Thermostat Repairer or Supervisor Thermostat Repairer on or after the first effective date of the wage increases, 01/01/2018, are eligible for the retroactive rate increases.

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 01/01/2018 Pay Change, followed by the 07/01/2018 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 Rate 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 of the rows that exist on the employee’s Job Data page, using the next available sequence number.

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 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 Payroll Earnings mailbox by the submission deadline for Pay Period 26C.

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 percentage based union dues and the following:

Tax Information

These monies are taxable income and are subject to all employment taxes and income taxes. These monies will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and will be reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

Adjustment codes AJR, LSL, and PLB are supplemental taxable wages, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and is 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 (1.61135% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

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 must complete form AC3340, Request for Payroll Check Stop Payment, and email it to the AnnualUncashed Payroll Check Outreach mailbox. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1684 for instructions.

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.