Purpose
To explain the agency procedures for reporting rate increases and adjustments for miscellaneous earnings.
Affected Employees
CUNY employees in the titles of Steamfitter and Steamfitter’s Helper.
Background
A Consent Determination has been entered and filed on December 2, 2022 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and the Steamfitters Local Union # 638 for retroactive raises for employees in the titles of Steamfitter and Steamfitter’s Helper.
The Consent Determination covers the period December 30, 2015 through July 31, 2022.
The agreement provides for retroactive increases to the hourly rates effective December 30, 2015, June 29, 2016, July 17, 2017, December 27, 2017, June 27, 2018, January 01, 2019, January 01, 2020, and February 01, 2021.
The revised rate chart and additional information are contained in a memorandum from Carmelo Batista, Jr. dated January 19, 2023.
Effective Dates
Increases may be submitted in Pay Period 25C (Institution), paychecks dates 03/23/2023. Rate increases are effective December 30, 2015 through February 01,2021.
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.
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
Increases to miscellaneous earnings must be manually calculated and reported by the agency using Earnings Code AJR in Time Entry.
The Time Entry Earnings Code AJR must be used to report the combined retroactive adjustment for all miscellaneous earnings, excluding overtime. When an adjustment to COVID-19 overtime such as Earnings Code CVO (Covid-19 OT Override) is needed, Earnings Code ARC must be used. When an adjustment to non-COVID-19 related overtime such as Earnings Code SL1 (OT Skilled Labor – 1.5) is needed, Earnings Code ARO must be used. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 for more information. Agencies must continue to use Earnings Code AJR for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment as a result of a retroactive salary increase.
Agencies must provide an explanation of the adjustment in the General Comments or Time Entry page in PayServ.
The Earnings Codes AJR, ARC, and ARO must be reported as follows:
| Earnings Begin Date: | Enter the first date to be adjusted. |
|---|---|
| Earnings End Date: | Enter the last date to be adjusted. |
| Earnings Code: | Enter AJR, ARC or ARO as appropriate. |
| Amount: | Enter the total amount of the adjustment. |
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.
Deductions
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:
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 403 | CUNY 403(b) |
| 406 | Strike/Discip Fine |
| 409 | CUNY Disciplinary Fine |
| 413 | NBE Tax Deferred Annuity |
| 414 | NYT Tax Deferred Annuity |
| 416 | Deferred Comp |
| 425 | Repay State Loans/Debt |
| 426 | Higher Ed Repay State Loan |
| 433 | Total Unemployment Ins Owed |
| 580 | CUNY Medicare Deficiency Flat Rate |
| 581 | CUNY Social Security Deficiency Flat Rate |
| 582 | CUNY SS/Med Deficiency |
| 678 | CUNY Before Tax Arrears |
| 679 | CUNY After Tax Arrears |
| 680 | CUNY Suspense BTax Arrears |
| 703 | CUNY 403(b) After Tax |
| GARNSH | Garnishments |
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.
The adjustments (AJR, ARC, ARO, and Retro (RXX)) 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 (1.95975% 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.
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.
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
Questions
Questions regarding transactions may be emailed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.