Purpose

To define Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates and to explain their use in payroll processing.

Affected Employees

Graded employees in Bargaining Unit 67

Background

A Performance advance is an increase in salary paid to an eligible employee according to contractual agreement. An eligible employee will continue to receive Performance Advances until the employee has reached the Job Rate of the grade. Performance Advances are paid to employees in an April or October Cycle. After the employee has completed one year of service, the next cycle (April or October) will determine the employee's rating cycle.

Longevity Payments are increases in salary paid to employees who have a minimum of five (5) years of service at the Job Rate of their current grade. On March 31, an employee who has five (5) or more or ten (10) or more years of service at the Job Rate is entitled to $850.00 added to their salary at the beginning of the pay period following their Anniversary Date. The resulting salary cannot exceed the Job Rate of the grade plus $1700.00.

Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates are essential to the automatic processing of Performance Advances by PayServ.

The Increment Code is a numeric code that indicates whether an employee is due a Performance Advance or Longevity Payment in the next rating cycle and triggers PayServ to respond accordingly at the time of payment. Increment Codes must be reviewed and updated when an employee's pay or service status changes. An errant or missing Increment Code may result in mispayment or no payment.

Anniversary Dates indicate an employee's credited service date in their current grade. Anniversary Dates are used to indicate when an employee is to be rated for Performances Advances or Longevity Payments. Anniversary Dates may be adjusted due to Pay Periods of less than full work status.

For graded employees, the Payroll System now requires Anniversary Dates and Increment Codes for all Pay Change Requests, Position Requests (except Position Change/Change Line), and Transfer Requests.

A change of Anniversary Date may result in a different rating cycle. As with Increment Codes, Anniversary Dates must be updated as the situation warrants.

FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary) Salary is a field used to enter a predetermined salary into the system. It is used in those instances where PayServ does not calculate a Performance Advance automatically. The FIS is used to pay employees who are appointed or promoted to a higher grade before receiving their next Performance Advance in the lower grade, and who are not eligible for a Performance Advance in the higher grade before the Performance Advance in the lower grade is paid. These employees are entitled to the benefit of the Performance Advance they would have received had they not been promoted.

The FIS salary is calculated by adding a Performance Advance to the last salary in the employee's prior grade, not exceeding the Job Rate, and then recalculating the promotion. If the resulting salary is above the current salary of the new grade, it is entered as the FIS Salary and will be paid on the employee's prior rating cycle date.

The maintenance of Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates is essential to payroll processing. The Payroll System uses both the Increment Code and the Anniversary Date to process a Performance Advance.

Specifics

Prior service in an equal or higher grade counts for Performance Advance service in the current year.

Unsatisfactory Ratings are reported effective on the employee's Anniversary Date. The Unsatisfactory Rating should be entered into the Payroll System before Pay Period 1 or Pay Period 14. The Agency must submit the Action/Reason of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Change Increment Code) to change the Increment Code to 0003 or 1003 depending on the employee's rating cycle in order to stop the Performance Advance from being added to the employee's salary. If the Performance Advance has already been paid, submit a Pay Change with a reason of UNSAT Perf to reduce the employee's salary.

Increment Codes are not needed for Trainee titles (Grade 800).

OSC Actions

The Payroll System uses the information present in the system to automatically process Performance Advances. In Pay Period 1 or Pay Period 14 of each Fiscal year, the system will automatically pay Performance Advances to employees whose record contains the proper Increment Code and the corresponding Anniversary Dates. The system will also update the salary of any employee with the required Increment Code and an FIS Salary in their record.

Agency Actions

The Agency is required to enter Increment Codes and Anniversary Dates when submitting Pay Changes, Transfers, and Position Changes (with the exception of POS/CHL) for graded employees.

Anniversary Dates may be updated as follows:

• On the Compensation Page when Reinstatements from Leaves are entered.
• For Hires and Concurrent Hires, the Anniversary Date defaults to the effective date, but must be repeated for the corresponding pay change.
• For Rehire transactions, the Anniversary Date defaults to the Anniversary Date in the system and must be updated, if necessary, on the corresponding Pay Change.

The Agency is responsible to correctly update the Increment Code and Anniversary Dates of employees as needed to insure proper payments.

In order to correct an incorrect Increment Code, Anniversary Date or FIS salary, the Agency must submit a Job Request with an Action/Reason of DTA/CIC (Data Change/ (Change Increment Code, Anniversary Date, and FIS Salary).

Eligibility

Employees are eligible for a Performance Advance if they have one (1) year of service in current grade or equivalent. Rating cycle is either April Cycle (10/2/x thru 4/1/x) or October Cycle (4/2/x-10/1/x).

For Performance Advances, the employee's service period is adjusted by two weeks for each complete pay period of no pay status, sick leaves with pay, and service in a lower grade.

Adjusted service may move an employee into the next rating cycle for Performance Advances.

For Longevity Payment eligibility, the employee's service period is adjusted by complete pay periods of no pay status and service in a lower grade.

Anniversary Dates

The Anniversary Date is the date of appointment in the current grade. The Anniversary Date is advanced by two weeks for each full biweekly pay period that an employee is in no pay status, on sick leave half pay, or in lower grade service.

Increment Codes - April Cycle

0001 - Employee is eligible for a Performance Advance. The employee will have a complete year of service in grade by April 1.

0003 - Employee is not eligible for a Performance Advance. The employee will not have a complete year of service in grade by April 1, or has an unsatisfactory rating.

0004 - Employee is due a Promotion Recalculation. Lower grade is on April cycle. Salary is determinant on a Performance Advance in the lower grade. FIS (Fiscal Incremented Salary) is required.

XXXX - The year the Job Rate is reached on April 1.

0005 - Employee is being placed on sick leave with pay. The Increment Code will be reviewed by the Salary Determination Unit

0069 - Employee has been downward reallocated and has received all Longevity Payments.

2222 - Used for all Composite Salaries. All salary changes must be submitted by the Agency, except for contractual raises. Note: A composite salary is a combination of two or more graded salaries.

7777 - Employee is not due a Longevity Payment in April because of an unsatisfactory rating.

Increment Codes - October Cycle

1001 - Employee is eligible for a Performance Advance. The employee will have a complete year of service in grade by October 1.

1003 - Employee is not eligible for a Performance Advance. The employee will not have a complete year of service in grade by October 1, or has an unsatisfactory rating.

1004 - Employee is due a Promotion Recalculation. Lower grade is on October cycle. Salary is determinant on a Performance Advance in the lower grade. Fixed Incremented Salary (FIS) is required.

XX10 - The year the Job Rate is reached on October 1. The first two digits stand for the year, the last two digits (10) for October. For example, an employee reaching the Job Rate on October 1, 2003, would have the Increment Code 0310.

1005 - Employee is being placed on sick leave with pay. The Increment Code will be reviewed by the Salary Determination Unit.

Questions

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