Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of raise eligibility and automatic processing and to provide agencies with the procedures for reporting certain salary increases.

Affected Employees

Annual and Hourly IBT employees in Bargaining Units SB, SE, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SW, SX, and SZ who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background

The 2016-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement between CUNY and IBT Local 237 and the CUNY OLR implementation instructions memorandum dated 12/20/2019 provide for retroactive general salary increases for 2016-2020.

Effective Date(s)

The 2016-2020 IBT Local 237 Retroactive General Salary Increases will be processed in Pay Period 6 Current, paycheck dated 06/18/2020 using the following dates:

• 2% general salary increase on 12/18/2016 based on 2016 salary;
• 2% general salary increase compounded on 12/18/2017 based on their 12/17/ 2017 salary;
• 2% general salary increase compounded on 12/182018 based on their 12/17/2018 salary; and
• 2% general salary increase compounded on 01/31/2020 based on their 01/30/2020 salary.

Note: The eligibility for the salary increase is based on the employee's salary on the day prior to the effective date of the general salary increase.

Eligibility Criteria

The appropriate general salary increases will be applied to all Annual and Hourly IBT employees in Bargaining Units SB, SE, SM, SP, ST, SU, SV, SW, SX, and SZ in accordance with the eligibility criteria set by the CUNY University Office of Labor Relations.

OSC Actions

OSC provided the population data to CUNY on 04/28/2020.

OSC will load the retroactive raise data from the CUNY file into PayServ by 06/05/2020.

Agency Actions

CUNY must run this data through their raise algorithm and return the retroactive general salary increase data to OSC by 05/20/2020 for audit review and file testing.

The following Action/Reason codes must be used to report the increases:

For salaried employees:

• To report increases effective each general salary increase date, the Action/Reason code of PAY/SIC must be used.
• To report increases on subsequent rows, the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL must be used.

For Hourly employees:

• To report increases effective each general salary increase date, the Action/Reason code of PAY/SIC must be used.
• To report increases on subsequent rows, the Action/Reason code of PAY/CRT must be used.

Note:  Raises are rounded to the nearest dollar for ANN PBC or to the nearest cent for HRY PBC.

Agency Actions - Overpayments, AC230 Prior to Pay Period 6C

CUNY should review all overpayments (Q06 – Q20) to determine if overpayments will be recovered correctly for active or inactive employees.  Overpayments set up on inactive records may need to be ended and set up on an active record for an employee.

Overpayment balances should be reviewed to determine if AC230s were correctly processed. CUNY should enter or change existing overpayments as needed. 

Refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 470 - Revised Policies and Procedures for Recovery of Overpayments and Attachment D for more information.

Note: The amount in the Earnings field on the Additional Pay page should be equal to at least 10% of the employee’s biweekly earnings plus any additional salary factors (ie. the daily rate), not 10% of the overpayment total.

Automatic Retroactive Processing and Other Agency Actions

Automatic retroactive payments will be processed for certain earnings reported on the Time Entry page. Earn codes, including but not limited to those in the following list, will be automatically adjusted:  HPJ, LSJ, LT1, OTC, OTD, OTE, OTJ, RGH, RGS, or the appropriate non-resident alien earn code.

Agency Actions for Miscellaneous Earnings Not Automatically Adjusted

Increases to miscellaneous earnings, such as assigned overtime, and override codes, must be manually calculated and reported by the agency using the AJR earn code.  The agency must calculate and submit retroactive adjustments for all miscellaneous earnings (not listed above) that will not be adjusted automatically. 

Adjustments for nonresident aliens should be made using the Earn Codes XAR, YAR, or ZAR. AJR may be paid in a single lump sum amount or broken down into raise periods (i.e. 12/18/2016 -12/17/2017). Detailed General Comments or a detailed worksheet must be available to OSC upon request.  AJR must be entered on the Time Entry page as follows:

For earnings that will be automatically adjusted by the system such as RGH and RGS, agencies must submit the applicable adjustment to adjust the system-calculated retroactive adjustment, whenever the earnings were previously reported in the Time Entry page as a single entry and the dates reported overlap the effective date of an increase. The system will adjust all earnings based on the salary rate in effect on the earnings end date.

Increases for employees who have had check reversals or exchanges, may not be processed correctly by the system.  Therefore, the agencies should review the retroactive adjustment calculated by the system for these employees and submit the necessary adjustment in a subsequent pay period.

IMPORTANT – AJR begin and end dates should not be inclusive of the entire retroactive raise period if an employee does not remain in an eligible position.  Begin and end dates should be specific to the dates an employee is in the eligible position (Annual or HRY). 

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available after processing of the automatic salary increases:

NHRP704 Mass Salary Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the General Salary Increase.  The report identifies all rows where the employee’s salary was automatically increased in an eligible bargaining unit.  Other fields on the report include the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part Time Percentage, Action/Reason, and Increment Code.

Tax information

The adjustments (AJR and Retro (RXX, XAR, YAR, ZAR)) are supplemental taxable income and will be included in the employee’s taxable gross 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).

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:

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

When a valid payroll check is undeliverable due to the agency’s inability to locate the employee, the agency should follow the Agency Actions identified in Payroll Bulletin No. 1786 - Non-negotiated and/or Undeliverable New York State Payroll Checks.

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 about eligibility may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.

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

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

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