This bulletin supersedes Payroll Bulletins 456 and 908

Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to identify employees who have outstanding payroll checks that have not been negotiated and provide procedures for agencies to resolve the disposition of these checks. Control-D report, NPAY539, is available to identify employees who have non-negotiated payroll checks.

Affected Employees

Employees who have an outstanding net payroll check equal to or greater than $19.99 that was issued more than 60 days from the creation date of the Control-D report are affected.

Background

Section 102 of the State Finance Law and Section 1315 of the Abandoned Property Law clarifies that uncashed checks become abandoned property after one year. As a result, timely resolution is essential. More importantly, if an uncashed check represents an inappropriately issued check, negative consequences can occur if it is not resolved.

Often an uncashed check is an indicator that the check was issued in error. These checks need to be reversed to properly update charges to agency appropriations and adjust taxes. Additionally, if a check that was issued in error is not reversed within one year, it will become abandoned property and be available to the payee.

It is the joint responsibility of OSC and agencies to take necessary action to prevent and resolve all such matters.

Effective Date(s)

Effective immediately

OSC Actions

Control-D report, NPAY539 (Non- Negotiated Payroll Checks), is available to agencies. This report lists employees in agency order to whom checks have been issued that appear on an outstanding check report received by OSC Accounting Operations.

The Control-D report identifies employees who have a non-negotiated paycheck in an amount equal to or greater than $19.99 that is older than 60 days of the report run date.Employees appearing multiple times on the report indicate several outstanding checks.

The NPAY539 report is updated and available during the first week of each month.

OSC will conduct yearly outreach to employees who have uncashed paychecks for a calendar year. This outreach will commence in September of the following year. (For example the uncashed check outreach for non-negotiated 2018 payroll checks began in September of 2019).

Agency Actions

Agencies must review the NPAY539 report monthly to identify employees with non-negotiated paychecks.

Agencies must ensure the payee is due the funds. If records indicate that the paycheck was delivered to the employee, the employee should be contacted and encouraged to negotiate the check.

When a valid payroll check is undeliverable due to the agency’s inability to locate the employee, the following procedures must be followed:

• The check must be secured by the appropriate Business Unit.
• Within 30 days of the check date, the agency is required to make two (2) attempts to locate the employee and deliver or mail the check. The agency must attempt to mail the check to the employee’s current address in PayServ before sending the check to the Division of the Treasury. Please refer to NPAY590, address move update report (bulletin 1016) to verify the address has not changed.
• If the mailed check is returned to the agency as undeliverable, the check must be returned to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Division of the Treasury, using Form AC 2714 (Undeliverable Payroll Check Report) at:

NYS Department of Taxation and Finance
Division of the Treasury
Attn: Depository Control
PO Box 22119
Albany, NY 12201-2119

For agencies utilizing couriers or overnight mail service, the check and Form AC 2714 should be delivered to:

NYS Department of Taxation and Finance
Division of the Treasury
Attn: Depository Control
110 State Street, 2nd floor
Albany, NY 12207

Checks listed on the NPAY539 report that represent erroneously issued checks must be returned to OSC immediately via Form AC 230 (Report of Check Returned For Refund Or Exchange). If an erroneously issued check that appears on the non-negotiated payroll check report is not in the agency’s possession, an AC3340 Request for Payroll Check Stop Payment Form should be submitted with the “reversal” check box indicated.

Questions

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