Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide agencies with instructions for processing the CUNY rate increases for Plumbers and Thermostat Repairer Titles.

Affected Employees:

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

Background:

A Consent Determination was entered and filed on 05/28/2024 between the Comptroller of the City of New York and Plumbers Local Union No.1, United Association. The Consent Determination provides for retroactive rate increases for employees in the titles of Plumber, Supervisor Plumber, Plumber’s Helper, Thermostat Repairer, and Thermostat Repairer Supervisor. 

Effective Dates:

The retroactive rate increases for employees in the impacted titles are effective as follows: 

Transactions to process these retroactive rate increases may be entered beginning in Institution Pay Period 12C, paychecks dated 09/19/2024.

Eligibility Criteria:

CUNY employees in the titles of Plumber, Supervisor Plumber, Plumber’s Helper, Thermostat Repairer, and Thermostat Repairer Supervisor are eligible for the payment on the applicable effective dates listed in the Effective Dates section. Further eligibility criteria is available in the memoranda from Carmelo Batista, Jr. dated 07/02/2024.

Agency Actions:

Reporting the Rate Increases

To increase the hourly rate(s) for eligible employees, the agency must submit the following:

• For all rate increases, request a Pay Change using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) on the Job Action Requests page, using the effective date of the applicable rate increase, and submit the new hourly rate.
• A separate Pay Change request must be made for each subsequent row that exists on the employee’s Job Data page using the next available sequence number, provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

OSC Actions:

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular earnings such as Regular Pay Hourly Employee (Earnings Code RGH), resulting from payment of the retroactive rate increases.

If an employee is eligible for a retroactive increase and has been paid by multiple agencies in the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increase, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency within that record number. If an employee has been paid in multiple record numbers, each record number will be evaluated separately, and retroactive payments will be processed in the record number in which the increase occurred. number in which the increase occurred. 

Agency Actions:

Submitting Retroactive Adjustments

When an adjustment is needed for COVID-19 related overtime such as Covid-19 OT Override (Earnings Code CVO), Earnings Code ARC (Adjust Retro Raise for C19 OT) must be used to process the adjustment. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OT Skilled Labor – 2.0 (Earnings Code SL2), Earnings Code ARO (Adj Retro Raise for OT and RCL) must be used to process the adjustment. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 – Reporting Adjustments to Overtime for more information. Agencies must continue to use Earnings Code AJR (Adjust Raise) for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment as a result of a retro salary increase.

To process a retroactive adjustment or correct an automatic retroactive adjustment, agencies must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the Earnings Code AJR, ARC or ARO:

General Deductions:

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 dues and the following:

Tax Information:

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

The adjustments (Earnings Codes AJR, ARC, and ARO) and retroactive payments (Earnings Code 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).

Special Wage Payments for Individuals Who Filed for Retirement Social Security Benefits:

Per Internal Revenue Service Publication 957, OSC will be reporting retro payments made to individuals who have filed for Social Security benefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

As PayServ does not include this information, OSC will be mailing a Request for Special Wage Payment Report to inactive individuals who are 62 or older in the calendar year and to active employees with the New York Retiree Indicator checked in Modify a Person who receive the retroactive payment. Recipients of this mailing will be asked to fill out the request and return it to OSC for inclusion on the Special Wage Payment report to SSA. This report will be submitted to SSA after the close of the 2024 tax year. 

It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retiree Indicator box is checked for rehired retirees. Please see Payroll Bulletin No. 1728 – New York Retiree Indicator for further details on the New York Retiree Indicator box.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice:

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate Earnings Code and the amount paid and will be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description and the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Agencies should utilize Locked Query LQ_PCD_PAYCHECK_EARNINGS_BY_ID to identify a complete list of regular earnings and retroactive adjustments if there are more than 13 earnings codes.

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 submitted as a Stop Payment Request with a reason of Exchange in PayServ. The Report of Check Exchange (AC 1476-P), Next of Kin Affidavit (AC 934-P), and original death certificate should be submitted to the Payroll Reversal and Exchange mailbox at the same time as the stop payment request. 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 eligibility for the above rate increases may be directed to the University Manager of Payroll Systems and Operations at CUNY Central Office.

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 taxes may be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.