Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform the Division of Housing and Community Renewal of OSC’s automatic processing of the April 2025 increases to Location Pay and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees:

All employees in the Rent Regulation Services Unit (BU67) represented by DC37 who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background:

Chapter 177 of the Laws of 2024, which implemented the 2023-2026 Agreement between the State of New York and DC37, provides for increases to Location Pay for April 2025.

Effective Dates:

The increases to Location Pay and Location Mid-Hudson Pay will be paid using the following effective date and check date:

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees in Bargaining Unit 67 who have a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence on or after the applicable Effective Dates provided in the Effective Dates section who are receiving Location Pay (Earnings Code LOC) at the Current Amount are eligible for the following increases:

OSC Actions:

Location Pay (Earnings Code LOC) and Location Mid-Hudson (Earnings Code LMH) 

OSC will automatically insert a row to update the Additional Pay page for the April 2025 increases for eligible employees receiving Location Pay at the Current Payment Amount in the Eligibility Criteria section as follows

Location Pay Downstate Adjustment (LOC)

OSC will automatically update any eligible subsequent rows.

Agency Actions:

To pay the April 2025 Location Pay increases to eligible employees not processed automatically or who return from an authorized leave of absence, the agency must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page:

 Location Pay Downstate Adjustment (LOC)

Control-D Report Available After Processing:

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

NHRP703 - Mass Salary Additional Pay Report

This report identifies all employees receiving an automatic increase for Location Pay (Earnings Code LOC). Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Salary Plan, Bargaining Unit, and Additional Pay Amount.

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 will be reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

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.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice:

All 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.

Questions:

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

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