Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for processing adjustments and changes.

Affected Employees

Employees in Bargaining Unit 67

Effective Date(s)

Paychecks dated 4/20/05

Background

Chapter 9 of the Laws of 2005 implements the agreement between the State of New York and Rent Regulations Services and provides for the following general salary increases and payments.

Contract Provisions and Eligibility Criteria

April 1, 2004 General Salary Increase

The legislation provides for a 2.5% Salary Increase for employees who, on or after the effective date of the increase, have a status of Active, Paid Leave, or Leave of Absence due to Workers’ Compensation Leave, and are in graded, NS (SG 600) and trainee (SG 800) positions.

• Payable 3/25/04.
• Revised April 1, 2004 Salary Schedule is attached.
• Annual employees receive a 2.5% Increase rounded to the nearest dollar.

Exceptions:

• No Increase for FEE basis employees, except for employees budgeted as per diem with a Pay Basis Code of FEE.
• No Increase for employees who were on a Leave of Absence for a Reason unrelated to Workers’ Compensation Leave on the effective date of the Increase until the employee returns from leave.

Location Pay Increase

The legislation provides an increase in Location Pay to $1,230.00 for employees in NYC, Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, effective 3/25/04.

OSC Actions: Automatic Processing of Salary Increases

After payroll processing for Pay Period 27 is completed, OSC will automatically update Job Records to reflect the April 2004 Salary Increases for employees whose Pay Basis Code is ANN. The records will be updated as follows:

• For employees who have a status of Active, Paid Leave (except Military Stipend), or Leave of Absence with a Reason Code of Workers’ Compensation on the effective date of the Increase, OSC will insert a row in the employee’s Job Data record using the Action/Reason of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase) with an effective date of 3/25/04.
• For employees who were Inactive or on Leave of Absence Without Pay for reasons unrelated to Workers’ Compensation or on a Paid Military Stipend Leave, the Salary Increase will be applied to the employee’s Job Data record only if the employee was subsequently returned to the payroll in BU 67. Rows will be inserted as of the effective date of the Rehire or the Return from Leave action using the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).
• For employees who were newly appointed or were moved into a BU 67 position after 3/25/04, OSC will insert a row, effective the date of the Hire, Position Change or Transfer action using the Action/Reason codes PAY/CSL.
• All subsequent rows on the Job Data record will also be updated automatically by inserting additional rows with the Action/Reason codes of PAY/CSL provided the employee remained in BU 67.

Exceptions:

• If the employee’s status on a Job Row is Paid Leave of Absence with a Reason of Military Stipend, a row will not be automatically inserted. However, employees who went on Military Stipend Leave due to new military orders on or after 3/25/04 are eligible for a recalculated military stipend based on the salary and Location Pay increases. Eligible employees’ records will be updated manually by OSC to reflect the increase.
• If the employee’s Job Data information does not match the information on Position Data, a row will not be automatically inserted.
• If the employee’s salary on a Job row is less than the hiring rate of the grade on the 2002 Salary Schedule, OSC will not insert a row to increase the employee’s salary.

Location Pay

For employees who are in BU 67 on or after the effective date of the increase (3/25/04) and have an existing LOC row in the amount of $1,200.00 on the Additional Pay page that is effective on or after the effective date of the increase, OSC will update the existing LOC row to $1,230.00.

Employees Receiving Location Pay and Changed Bargaining Units

• If after the effective date of the Location Pay increase, an employee moved from BU 67 into a bargaining unit that is not eligible for these increases and the employee continued to be eligible to receive Location earnings, OSC will manually insert a row, effective the date of the change in bargaining unit to reflect the reduced Location Pay earnings.
• If the employee was in a bargaining unit that was ineligible to receive the increase in Location Pay earnings on or after the effective date of the increase and then subsequently had a position change or transfer action into BU 67 and continued to be eligible for Location Pay earnings, OSC will manually insert a row to reflect the increases in Location pay, effective the date of movement into BU 67.

OSC Actions: Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive payments resulting from the April 2004 General Salary Increase and the increase in Location Pay (LOC).

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency and have been paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency and have been paid from more than one Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, the retroactive adjustment for earnings in each Employee Record Number will be paid in the most current agency under each Employee Record Number.

Retroactive Adjustments for Additional Pay and Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry Earn Codes that are calculated based on an employee’s salary rate and additional salary factors such as overtime (OTA) and holiday (HPA) will be automatically adjusted.

The following Earn Codes will be adjusted automatically:

• Extra Time (EXT), Holiday Pay (HPA), Location Pay (LOC), Lump Sum Payment-Vacation (LSA), Lump Sum Payment-OT Accruals (LSB), Lump Sum Payment-Vol Reduct (LSH), Lost Time (LT1), OT for Annuals (OTA), OT Straight Rate for Annuals (OTB), Overtime Waiver (OTW), Regular Pay Salary Employee (RGS), Salary LSP Annuals (SLS).

Retroactive Adjustments for Employees Currently Inactive and Have An Outstanding Overpayment

For employees who are Inactive at the time of payment, the retroactive raise adjustment will be applied to any Overpayment (OVP) set up in Additional Pay that has a Goal Amount and Goal Balance that are not equal. The Payroll System will determine the difference between the Goal Balance and Goal Amount and will deduct the difference from the employee’s check. If the amount of the positive earnings is not sufficient to deduct the entire Overpayment, the system will deduct the amount of positive earnings due and update the OVP Goal Balance accordingly.

Retroactive Payments for Employees Receiving Military Stipends

For employees who were placed on Military Stipend Leave with or without pay as a result of new military orders on or after the effective date of the Increases, OSC will recalculate the amount of military stipend.

• For those who received a stipend, the increase in biweekly stipend will be updated on the Job Data record by inserting a new row to reflect the new biweekly stipend amount. Any additional adjustment that is required due to the change in stipend but is not calculated automatically by the retro process will be reported by OSC in the Time Entry page using the Earn Code ADJ.
• For those who did not receive a stipend but became eligible for a stipend because of the increased salary, OSC will take the necessary action on the Job Data and/or Time Entry page to pay the required increases.

Agency Actions Required

New Hires, Rehires, Position Changes, and Transfers Reported in Pay Period 27

Agencies must report the old salary when processing pay changes, position changes, and transfers in the pay period in which the raise will be processed.

Additional Pay Reporting

• When reporting Location Pay earnings for employees in BU 67 in the pay period in which the automatic increase will be processed, the agency may use the new amount.
• When reporting adjustments for Location Pay due to late hire, rehire, or mid-period change, the adjustment reported in Additional Pay should be calculated based on the new amount.

Time Entry Reporting

• When reporting RGS and RGO earnings in the pay period in which the raise will be processed, the agency must use the increased salary to calculate the RGS or RGO amount. The payroll system will adjust RGS earnings reported in the current pay period.
• When reporting an earnings amount for an Earn Code that is calculated using the employee’s salary rate such as OTT (Out of Title Overtime), the agency may report the out of title earnings using the increased rate.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

The following Time Entry and Additional Pay earnings will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, commencing in the pay period in which the raise is being processed, the agency may report the appropriate retroactive adjustments in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and the appropriate Earnings Begin and End Dates. An explanation of the adjustment must be included in the Time Entry comments or on the General Comments page.

• ADJ Adjustment
• ALP Adjust Location Pay
• FEE (adjust only if employee is paid based on a per diem rate)
• LSI Lump Sum Payment Override
• LTO Lost Time Override
• OTO Overtime Override
• OTT Out of Title Overtime
• RGO Regular Salary Override
• SLO Salary Lump Sum Payment Override

Reporting An Adjustment When Automatic Retroactive Adjustment Is Incorrect

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the agency is responsible for identifying employees who meet these conditions and, if required, must submit the necessary adjustment of earnings in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and appropriate Begin and End Dates.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic increase is processed but before the employee receives the paycheck, the employee should be notified of the Overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.

• If an employee had a check returned or exchanged on an AC230 for service dates on or after 3/25/04, the payroll system does not consider the AC230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment. Therefore, the agency should review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine the amount of the adjustment to be reported.
• If an employee’s Pay Basis Code changed from ANN, the agency must review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine if it is correct. If the adjustment is not correct, the agency must report an adjustment of earnings.
• If an employee was paid on an AC39 (Typewritten Payroll), the payroll system will not adjust the earnings processed on the AC39. The agency must report the adjustment of earnings.
• For employees who had a Job Action or Additional Pay change (LOC) reported since 3/25/04 and the reported action resulted in an overpayment of earnings, the automatic negative retroactive adjustment may not have been processed because the overpayment was either not recoverable or recoverable using the OVP Earn Code or the AC230. In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the automatic increases are processed.

OSC will manually turn off (not process) the automatic negative adjustment for these employees, since in most cases, the Overpayment was either not recoverable or recovered using another method. The agency is responsible for reviewing employees who meet these conditions to determine if an additional adjustment is required.

OSC will provide a query to assist the agency in identifying employees whose retroactive adjustments had been previously turned off (not processed). Agencies should review the query results of employees and report the additional adjustment if required in the Time Entry page using the Earn Code AJR.

Control-D Reports Available After Raise Processing

The following reports will be available in Control-D after the automatic increases are processed:

• NHRP 709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report
  This report will identify employees who did not receive an automatic increase on one or more Job Data rows as a result of the following:
  • Salary Below Minimum
  • Position and Job do not match
• NHRP 703 Mass Salary Additional Pay Report
  This report will identify all employees who received an automatic increase in Location Pay (LOC) earnings.

• NHRP 704 Mass Salary Payment Report
  This report will identify all employees who received the General Salary Increase. The report identifies the employee’s last salary that was automatically increased.

Payroll Register and Employee Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the payroll register and the employee’s paycheck or direct deposit advice.

Questions

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