Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for agency processing.

Affected Employees

Employees in Bargaining Unit 67 who meet the eligibility criteria

Background

Chapter 49 of the Laws of 2008 implements the agreement between the State of New York and the Rent Regulation Services Unit and provides for a General Salary Increase and an increase to Longevities.

Effective Date(s)

4/2/09 - Paychecks dated 4/29/09, Pay Period 1L

Contract Provisions and Eligibility Criteria

April 1, 2009 General Salary Increase

The legislation provides for a 3% Salary Increase for employees in graded and NS (SG 600) positions, trainees (SG 800) and hourly employees.

• April 1, 2009 Salary Schedule.
• Annual employees receive a 3% increase rounded to the nearest dollar.
• Hourly employees receive a 3% increase rounded to the nearest cent.

Longevity Increase

The legislation provides for an increase in the Longevity amounts for employees in graded and NS equated to grade positions to the following:

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 or Military Leave on the effective date of the increase until the employee returns from leave.

OSC Actions: Automatic Processing of Increases

After payroll processing for Pay Period 1L is completed, OSC will process the April 2009 Salary and Longevity Increases for eligible employees whose Pay Basis Code is ANN or HRY as follows:

• OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the increase using the Action/Reason code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase) for employees who are Active, on a Paid Leave of Absence (except Military Stipend) or on Workers’ Compensation Leave. The row will be inserted effective 4/2/09.
• OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the increase using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for annual employees and PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for hourly employees who are Inactive or on a Leave of Absence (except Workers’ Compensation Leave) only if the employee subsequently returns to Active status in an eligible position in Pay Period 1 but after the effective date of the increase. The row will be inserted using the effective date of the Rehire or Return from Leave action.
• OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the increase using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for annual employees and PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for hourly employees who are newly appointed or who transfer into an eligible position in Pay Period 1 but after the effective date of the increase.  The row will be inserted using the effective date of the Hire, Position Change or Transfer action.
• OSC will automatically insert rows in the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the increase using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for annual employees and PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for hourly employees for all subsequent rows provided the employee remained in an eligible position.

Exceptions:

• If the employee is on Military Stipend, a row will not be automatically inserted. However, employees who were placed on Military Stipend due to new military orders on or after the effective date of the payment are eligible for a recalculated military stipend based on the increases. Eligible employees’ records will be updated manually by OSC to reflect the increase.
• If the employee’s NYS grade equals 600 and the Equated to Grade and Approved Salary Rate fields on Position Data are populated, a row will not be automatically inserted.
• 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 existing 2008 Salary Schedule, a row will not be automatically inserted.

Salary Calculation for Employees Holding Longevity

Employees who are holding Longevity will have their salary calculated as follows:

• If the employee’s Increment Code is other than 1999 or 2004, OSC will automatically apply 3% to the employee’s current salary and add the following Longevity Increase:
  • $100 for employees holding five (5) year Longevity
  • $200 for employees holding ten (10) year Longevity
• If the employee’s Increment Code is 1999 or 2004 and the employee’s current salary is equal to Longevity Step 2 or Longevity Step 1, OSC will automatically increase the salary to the corresponding step on the April 2009 Salary Schedule.
• If the employee’s Increment Code is 1999 and the employee’s current salary is not equal to Longevity Step 2, OSC will subtract $2,100 from the employee’s current salary, apply 3% and add $2,300.
• If the employee’s Increment Code is 2004 and the employee’s current salary is not equal to Longevity Step 1, OSC will subtract $1,050 from the employee’s current salary, apply 3% and add $1,150.

Agency Actions

The following procedures must be used by the agency when submitting transactions in Pay Period 1L: For transactions requested on the Job Action Request or Transfer Request page with an effective date on or before 4/2/09 (Administration):

• The agency must not include the 2009 Salary or Longevity Increase, Performance Advance or Longevity Payment in the Pay Rate field on the Job Action Request page. The April 2008 Salary Schedule must be used to calculate the salary.
• The agency must report the proper Increment Code for April 2009.

For transactions requested on the Job Action Request or Transfer Request page with an effective date after 4/2/09 (Administration):

• The agency must not include the 2009 Salary or Longevity Increase in the Pay Rate field on the Job Action Request page, but must include the Performance Advance or Longevity Payment from the April 2008 Salary Schedule, if applicable.
• The agency must report the projected Increment Code based on the employee’s next performance advance cycle.

Employees Who Receive an Increased Hiring Rate in Pay Period 1

Employees who receive an Increased Hiring Rate on or after the payment effective date may not be entitled to have the increase applied to their entire salary. OSC will manually update the salaries after the automatic increase is applied. If any additional corrections are needed, agencies should submit transactions as soon as possible in order to avoid an overpayment to the employee.

Administration Agencies Only: New Hire transactions submitted in Pay Period 1 must use the Hiring Rate from the 2008 Salary Schedule. The automatic validation salary warning message, “Requested salary rate must be at the hiring rate when Action of PAY and Reason of NEW is used,” will appear as the new 2009 Salary Schedules will be loaded in PayServ. Please ignore this warning message.

Composite Salaries

Beginning in Pay Period 2, agencies must review employees in composite positions (identified by Increment Code 2222) to verify the proper salary increase has been applied. Agencies also should update General Comments.

Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

The NHRP709 report will be available for agency review prior to the processing of the automatic increases. The report will be available on 3/26/09 for Administration agencies and identifies employees who will not receive an automatic increase. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage and Salary. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

• NYS Position has both equated grade and NTE
• Position and job do not match
• Salary below hiring rate

If an employee appears on this report but is due an increase, the agency must:

• Submit the necessary corrections on the Job Action Request page to correct the data on the incorrect Job row(s) using the appropriate Action/Reason code(s). If the row(s) is corrected prior to Pay Period 1, the automatic increase will be applied.
• Submit a Position Change Request to the Position Management Unit if the data on the Position Data page is incorrect in PayServ but is correct in NYSTEP. The position will be updated to reflect the change and the automatic increase will be applied provided the agency’s position request contains the same information as the position information in NYSTEP.

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D reports will be available for agency review after processing of the automatic increases:

NHRP704 Mass Salary Increase Report

This report identifies all employees who received the Salary or Longevity Increase and identifies all employees’ salaries that were automatically increased in an eligible bargaining unit. Other fields on the report include the EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Effective Date, Effective Sequence, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason and Increment Code.

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report identifies all employees who did not receive an automatic Salary or Longevity Increase on one or more Job Data rows. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage and Salary. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

• NYS Position has both equated grade and NTE
• Position and job do not match
• Sal below hiring rate

Questions

Questions regarding increases may be directed to the Salary Determination mailbox.

Questions regarding position may be directed to the Position Management mailbox.