Purpose

To provide agency instructions for processing the October 1, 2009, October 1, 2010 and October 1, 2014 Stipend Increases and the October 1, 2011 Lump Sum Payment.

Affected Employees

Employees in the State University Graduate Student Negotiating Unit (GSNU) – BU28 who meet the eligibility criteria.

Background

Chapter 183 of the Laws of 2014, which implemented the 2009-2016 Agreement between the State of New York and the Communications Workers of America/Graduate Student Employees Union, provides for an increase in stipends and an increase in the minimum stipend of two percent (2.00%) for academic year 2009-2010, three percent (3.00%) for academic year 2010-2011 and two percent (2.00%) for academic year 2014-2015 and a non-recurring lump sum payment of $500 (full assistantship) or $250 (less than full assistantship) for academic year 2011-2012.

Effective Date(s)

The October 1, 2009, October 1, 2010 and October 1, 2014 Stipend Increases and the October 1, 2011 Lump Sum Payment should be paid in Administration Pay Period 17L, paychecks dated 12/03/14 using the following effective dates:

Eligibility Criteria

Stipend Increases

Employees who meet the following criteria on the eligibility dates AND on 11/19/14 (Administration PP 17L Pay End Date) are eligible to receive the applicable stipend increase:

• Bargaining Unit = 28
• Salary Grade = 980
• Pay Basis Code = BIW
• Payroll Status = Active or Leave With Pay

Lump Sum Payment

Employees who meet the following criteria on 10/01/11 (the Payment Effective Date) AND on 11/19/14 (Administration PP 17L Pay End Date) AND who are not eligible to receive an October 1, 2009 or October 1, 2010 Stipend Increase are eligible to receive the October 1, 2011 Lump Sum Payment:

• Bargaining Unit = 28
• Salary Grade = 980
• Pay Basis Code = BIW
• Payroll Status = Active or Leave With Pay

New Earnings Codes

OSC has created new Time Entry Earnings Codes to process the October 1, 2011 Lump Sum Payment:

Agency Actions

Approved Salary Rates (Position Data Page)

Prior to processing the stipend increases, agencies must update the Approved Salary Rate field on each impacted row on the Position Data page to reflect the increased salary of the incumbent.

2009 Stipend Increase

To pay the October 1, 2009 Stipend Increase to eligible employees, agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code SAC (Mass Salary Increase) and 10/01/09 as the Effective Date. The value of the stipend increase should be determined by multiplying the salary in effect on 09/30/09 by 2.00% and rounding to the next whole dollar. This amount must be added to the salary in effect on 10/01/09 and the result reported in the Pay Rate field.

The minimum stipend for academic year 2009-2010 is $8,758 for eligible employees on full assistantships employed at University Center campuses.

2010 Stipend Increase

To pay the October 1, 2010 Stipend Increase to eligible employees, agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code SAC (Mass Salary Increase) and 09/30/10 as the Effective Date. The value of the stipend increase should be determined by multiplying the salary in effect on 09/30/10 (using the increased salary resulting from the October 2009 Stipend Increase, if applicable) by 3.00% and rounding to the next whole dollar. This amount must be added to the salary in effect on 09/30/10 and the result reported in the Pay Rate field.

The minimum stipend for academic year 2010-2011 is $9,021 for eligible employees on full assistantships employed at University Center campuses.

2014 Stipend Increase

To pay the October 1, 2014 Stipend Increase to eligible employees, agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code SAC (Mass Salary Increase) and 09/25/14 as the Effective Date. The value of the stipend increase should be determined by multiplying the salary in effect on 09/30/14 by 2.00% and rounding to the next whole dollar. This amount must be added to the salary in effect on 09/25/14 and the result reported in the Pay Rate field.

The minimum stipend for academic year 2014-2015 is $9,201 for eligible employees on full assistantships employed at University Center campuses.

Subsequent Rows

If the employee has rows on the Job Data page subsequent to the effective date of any of the above stipend increases, the agency must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code CSL (Cor Sal) with the effective date of the row being evaluated, the next available sequence number and the employee’s increased rate in the Pay Rate field, provided the employee remains eligible. If the employee has received a stipend increase for more than one year, the Pay Rate field should reflect the combined percentage increase for the year of the row being evaluated and each prior year.

Lump Sum Payment

To pay the October 1, 2011 Lump Sum Payment to eligible employees, agencies must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using Earnings Code GLS (or the appropriate non-resident alien earnings code – XGL, YGL, ZGL):

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular earnings and Time Entry earnings that are calculated by the system based on annual salary, such as Lost Time for Biweekly’s (LT6), resulting from payment of the October 2009, October 2010 or October 2014 Stipend Increases.

If an employee receives a payment and has worked in more than one agency but has been paid by all agencies in the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

If an employee receives a payment and has worked in more than one agency and has been paid in more than one Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, the retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency of the Employee Record Number in which the payment was made.

Agency Actions – Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning in Administration Pay Period 18L, agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Adjustment (ADJ) or Lost Time Override (LTO).

Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment

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 the following conditions, and if necessary, submitting the necessary adjustment.

• If an employee has a check returned or exchanged on an AC-230 (Report of Check Returned for Refund or Exchange) for dates on or after the effective date of the payment, the payroll system does not consider the AC-230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment.
• If earnings were previously reported using Earnings Code RGS (Regular Pay Salary Employee) and a date range that exceeded the number of days reported, the system will calculate the adjustment of earnings based on the number of workdays within the range.
• Adjustment for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as Lost Time for Biweekly’s (LT6), will be calculated incorrect if the dates previously reported as a single entry on the Time Entry page overlap the effective date of the payment. The system will calculate an adjustment for all earnings reported in a single entry based on the salary in effect on the Earnings End Date.
• For employees who had a change reported on the Job Data page since the effective date of the payment and the 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 was recovered using an overpayment earnings code or an AC-230.In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the payment is processed. OSC will turn off (not process) the automatic negative adjustment for these employees since in most cases these overpayments were either not recoverable or recovered using another method.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic payment is processed but before the paycheck is received by the employee, the employee must be notified of the overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.

Submitting an Adjustment

To process a retroactive adjustment or correct an automatic retroactive adjustment, agencies must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using Earnings Code AJR.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive 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 #49 to identify a complete list of regular earnings and retroactive adjustments if there are more than 13 earnings codes.

Questions

Questions regarding eligibility for this payment should be directed to the SUNY System Administration.

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