Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agencies instructions for processing the 2020 CUNY Research Foundation Grant Payments for Summer Research.

Affected Employees

CUNY instructional staff who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background

Pursuant to an Agreement between the CUNY and the CUNY Research Foundation (CUNY RF), instructional staff members who perform research work receive payments that are reimbursed by the CUNY RF.  The work may be performed in any facility but must be paid from the college where the employee is employed on a full-time basis.  The payments are processed through PayServ to facilitate crediting retirement service.

Effective Date(s)

Based on the Summer 2020 RF Summer Salaries – Semi-Monthly Certification and Paydate Deadlines schedule, payments may be submitted beginning with paychecks dated 07/02/2020 and must be completed by paychecks dated 03/11/2021.

Agency Actions

In order to process the Summer 2020 CUNY Research Foundation Grant Payments, agencies must be in receipt of the CUNY RF Payment Authorization Form and the 2020 RF Summer Salaries – Semi-Monthly Certification and Paydate Deadlines Schedule.

For each of the pay dates included on the Semi-Monthly Certification and Paydate Deadlines schedule, the CUNY University Payroll Systems and Operations office must provide OSC with the CUNY RF Authorization Form spreadsheet of eligible employees and amounts to be paid prior to submission of the payment.

To make the Summer 2020 CUNY Research Foundation Grant Payment to eligible employees, agencies must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page using the appropriate earnings code. For each new grant payment or additional amount that must be paid, insert a row at the Effective Date level of the appropriate earnings code.

If the employee incurs an overpayment, the agency must take the following action:

• If the employee is separated from State service in the full-time record, the agency must create an overpayment record in the full-time record on the Additional Pay page using Earnings Code Q20 to recover the overpayment from future earnings.
• If the employee is separated from State service in the full-time record but is Active in another record, the agency must create an overpayment record in the Active record on the Additional Pay page using Earnings Code Q20 to recover the overpayment from future earnings.
• If the employee is overpaid in an Alien status the codes 20X, 20Y, and 20Z should be used to recover the overpayment. 
• If the employee is Active and receiving regular wages in the full-time record in which the grant payment was made, the agency must insert a row on the Additional Pay page at the Effective Date level of the appropriate earnings code and enter the following information.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

The earnings code descriptions and the amount will be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub and/or direct deposit advice.  Where appropriate, the following earnings codes and the associated amounts will be displayed on the payroll register: 

General Deductions

Grant payments are included as salary for retirement purposes and are subject to union dues.

Tax Information

All CUNY Research Foundation Grant Payments for Summer Research will be included in the employee’s taxable gross wages and are subject to all employment and income taxes.

In addition, payments made with earn codes CGT, XCT, YCT, ZCT are supplemental, and 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).

Questions

Questions regarding eligibility for this payment should be directed to the Director of University Payroll Systems and Operations.

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

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

Questions regarding retirement may be directed to the Payroll Retirement mailbox.