Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide instructions to campuses for processing United University Professions (UUP) Discretionary Increases.

Affected Employees

SUNY Professional Services employees in Bargaining Unit 08 who meet the eligibility criteria and are selected by the campus President are affected.

Background

Chapter 263 of Laws of 2018 implemented the agreement between the State of New York and UUP and provides for Discretionary Increases for UUP BU 08 employees. Payment of the increases is at the discretion of the Campus President and may be made to employees who are incumbents on the payroll on 06/30/2020.

Per the contract language, Article 20.10, the Discretionary Increase is comprised of two one-half percent parts. SUNY System Administration will provide campuses with details regarding the calculation and funding of these payments.

Effective Dates

SUNY System Administration has designated Pay Period 22L, paychecks dated 02/17/2021 and Pay Period 24L, paychecks dated 03/17/2021 for each campus to submit their UUP 2020 Discretionary Increases. Rosters for Pay Period 22L are due to SUNY by 01/25/2021. Rosters for Pay Period 24L are due to SUNY by 02/22/2021.

Effective dates of increases based on professional obligation:

Pay Basis Code	Effective Date – 2020 Increase
ANN and CYF	07/01/2020
21P and CYP	08/20/2020
CAL	09/01/2020
HRY or BIW	Based on Date of Obligation

Campuses should make every effort to process the 2020 Discretionary Increases in Pay Period 22L. However, per the GOER side letter dated 12/23/2020, for campuses that require additional time, they may process the payments in Pay Period 24L. Campuses must avoid processing these payments in Administration Pay Period 23L.

Eligibility Criteria

Employees selected by the campus president who meet the following criteria on 06/30/2020 AND on 11/25/2020 (Administration 17L Pay End Date) are eligible to receive the Discretionary Increase:

• Bargaining Unit = 08
• Salary Grade = 980
• Pay Basis Code = ANN, CYF, 21P, CAL, BIW, HRY, FEE
• Payroll Status = Active or Approved Leave

In addition, part-time employees who meet the above criteria on 04/30/2020 whose employment expired prior to 07/01/2020 are eligible for the discretionary increase if they are re-employed, meet the above criteria and are selected by the campus president.

Agency Actions

Prior to processing the payments, campuses are required to complete a roster identifying employees who will receive a UUP 2020 Discretionary Increase amount. The roster must include the increased salary and must be signed by the campus president and forwarded to SUNY System Administration. A copy of this roster will be provided to OSC in Excel format.

To process the Discretionary Increase for eligible employees, agencies must submit a Job Action Request transaction using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase).

For eligible employees with the Pay Basis Code of ANN or CYF, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 07/01/2020.

For eligible employees with the Pay Basis Code of 21P or CYP, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 08/20/2020.

For eligible employees with the Pay Basis Code of CAL, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 09/01/2020.

For eligible employees with the Pay Basis Code of BIW or HRY, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted based on date of obligation.

Subsequent Rows

Agencies must submit Pay Rate Change transactions using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate change/CSL (Correct Salary) to update any subsequent rows that appear on the employee’s Job Data record, provided the employee remained in BU08.

OSC 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 OT at 1.5 (OTA) and Lump Sum Annual (LSA), resulting from payment of the 2020 Discretionary Increase for employees in Bargaining Unit 08.

Campus Action – Retroactive Processing

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments:

Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning Administration Pay Period 24L or 25L, campuses must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Balance of Contract (BAL), Lump Sum Payment Override (LSI) and FEE.

Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment:

When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the campus 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 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 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.
• Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as OT for Annuals (OTA), will be calculated incorrectly 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, campuses must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the Earnings Code AJR:

Earnings Begin Date:	The first date included in the adjustment
Earnings End Date:	The last date included in the adjustment
Earn Code:	AJR
Amount:	Amount to be adjusted
Comments:	An explanation of the adjustment

General Deductions

All general deductions for employees whose status is Terminated, Retired or Deceased will be automatically cancelled by OSC with the exception of percentage based dues and the following:

Code	Narrative
406 410	Strike/Disp Fine Health Care Spending Account
420	NY Dependent Care Contribution
425	Repay State Loans/Debt
426	Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428	Dependent Care
433	Total Unemployment Ins Owed
500	Medicare Deficiency
501	Social Security Deficiency
502	NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
GARNSH	Garnishments
HIATRG	Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP	Special After Tax Health Adj

Tax Information

The adjustments (AJR and Retro (RXX)) are supplemental taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are subject to all employment and income taxes.

Federal, State, and New York City income tax withholding will be calculated using the Aggregate method. Yonkers income tax withholding will be calculated using the Flat Rate method (1.61135% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

Undeliverable Checks

If the campus has made an effort to deliver the check to the employee but the check has been returned and is undeliverable, the campus should forward the check to the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 1786.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P), original Death Certificate and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P). 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 retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate Earnings Code and the amount paid and will also be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description with the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Campuses should utilize locked query: LQ_PCD_PAYCHECK_EARNINGS_BY_ID 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 SUNY System Administration.

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