Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide instructions to agencies for processing the 2024 UUP Discretionary Increases.

Affected Employees:

Employees in PSNU – BU08 positions who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background:

Chapter 189 of the Laws of 2023, which implemented the 2022-2026 Agreement between the State of New York and UUP, 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 (active or approved leave) on 06/30/2024.

Per the contract language, Article 20.6, the Discretionary Increase is comprised of one-half percent of the total of the basic annual salaries on June 30, 2024. 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 17L, paychecks dated 12/04/2024 and Pay Period 18L, paychecks dated 12/18/2024 as pay periods in which campuses can submit their UUP 2024 Discretionary Increases. Rosters for Pay Period 17L are due to SUNY no later than 10:00AM on Tuesday, 11/12/2024. Rosters for Pay Period 18L are due to SUNY no later than 10:00AM on Tuesday, 11/26/2024.

Effective dates of increases (based on professional obligation):

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees selected by the campus president must meet the following criteria on 06/30/2024 and on 11/20/2024 (employees being paid in Administration Pay Period 17L) or 06/30/2024 and 12/04/2024 (employees being paid in Administration Pay Period 18L).

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

In addition, part-time employees who meet the above criteria on 04/30/2024 whose employment expired prior to 07/01/2024 are eligible for the Discretionary Increase if they are re-employed, meet the above criteria and are selected by the campus president.

Please note: Such increases to base annual salary shall be payable no later than December 31, 2024.

Agency Actions:

Prior to processing the payments, campuses are required to complete a roster identifying employees who will receive a UUP 2024 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 Comp Rate Code of ANN or CYF, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 07/01/2024.

For eligible employees with the Comp Rate Code of 21P, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 08/15/2024.

For eligible employees with the Comp Rate Code of CAL, the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/SIC (Salary Increase) must be submitted effective 09/01/2024.

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

Subsequent Rows

If the employee has rows on the Job Data page subsequent to the effective date of one of the above transactions, the agency must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code CRT (Chg Rate) for Comp Rate Code HRY and BIW or Reason code CSL (Cor Sal) for all other Comp Rate Codes with the effective date of the row being evaluated, the next available sequence number and the employee’s increased salary in the Pay Rate field, provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

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 for Annuals (Earnings Code OTA) and Lump Sum Payment-Vacation (Earnings Code LSA), resulting from payment of the 2024 Discretionary Increase.

If an employee is eligible for a retroactive increase and has been paid by multiple agencies in the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increase, all retroactive adjustments must be paid in the most current agency within that record number. If an employee has been paid in multiple record numbers, each record number will be evaluated separately, and retroactive payments will be processed in the record number in which the increase occurred.

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 (for employees receiving the Discretionary Increase in Administration Pay Period 17L) and Administration Pay Period 19L (for employees receiving the Discretionary Increase in Administration Pay Period 18L), agencies must report the adjustment amount for earnings such as Balance of Contract (Earnings Code BAL), Lump Sum Payment Override (Earnings Code LSI), OT override (Earnings Code OTO), and Regular Pay Override (Earnings Code RGO).

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 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.
• Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically such as OT for Annuals (Earnings Code 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 employee 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

When an adjustment is needed for COVID-19 related overtime such as Covid-19 OT override (Earnings Code CVO), Earnings Code ARC (Adjust Retro Raise for C19 OT) must be used to process the adjustment. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OT Override (Earnings Code OTO), Earnings Code ARO (Adj Retro Raise for OT and RCL) must be used to process the adjustment. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 – Reporting Adjustments to Overtime for more information. Agencies must continue to use Earnings Code AJR (Adjust Raise) for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment as a result of a retroactive salary increase.

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, ARC, or ARO:

Military Leave Stipend: 

OSC will recalculate the military stipend amount for employees who were placed on a Paid or Unpaid Military Stipend Leave on or after the effective date of the payment as the result of new military orders.

• If the employee received a stipend, OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective the date the employee is entitled to the increase using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/MSC (Military Stipend Change) and will increase the employee’s biweekly stipend amount. In addition, updates will be made to all subsequent rows requiring an increased biweekly stipend amount.
• If the employee did not receive a stipend but becomes eligible for a stipend as a result of the payment, OSC will insert the following in PayServ.
  • A row on the employee’s Job Data page effective the date the employee is entitled to a stipend using the Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) and the new biweekly stipend amount.
  • A row on the employee’s Job Data page for each affected subsequent row using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/MSC (Military Stipend Change) and the new biweekly stipend amount.
  • A row on the Time Entry page using Earnings Code MSP (Military Stipend Payment) to pay the stipend for each pay period the employee is eligible.
• Any additional adjustment that is required due to the increased biweekly stipend amount that will not be calculated automatically will be reported by OSC on the Time Entry page using Earnings Code AMS (Adjust Military Stipend).

General Deductions:

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

Tax Information:

These monies are taxable income subject to all employment taxes and income taxes, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross, and will be reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

The adjustments (Earnings Codes AJR, ARC, and ARO) and retroactive adjustments (Earnings Code RXX) are supplemental taxable income and will be included in the employee’s taxable gross 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 (1.95975% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

Special Wage Payments for Individuals Who File for Retirement Social Security Benefits: 

Per Internal Revenue Service Publication 957, OSC will be reporting retroactive payments made to individuals who have filed for Social Security benefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

As PayServ does not include this information, OSC will be mailing a Request for Special Wage Payment Report to inactive individuals who are 62 or older in the calendar year and to active employees with the New York Retiree Indicator checked in Modify a Person who receive the retroactive payment. Recipients of this mailing will be asked to fill out the request and return it to OSC for inclusion on the Special Wage Payment Report to SSA. This report will be submitted to SSA after the close of the 2024 tax year.

It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retire Indicator box is checked for rehired retirees. Please see Payroll Bulletin No. 1728 – New York Retiree Indicator for further details on the New York Retiree Indicator box.

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 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.

Undeliverable Checks:

When a valid payroll check is undeliverable due to the agency’s inability to locate the employee, the agency should follow the Agency Actions identified in Payroll Bulletin No. 1786 – Non-Negotiated and/or Undeliverable New York State Payroll Checks.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be submitted as a stop payment request with a reason of Exchange in PayServ. The Report of Check Exchange (AC 1476-P), Next of Kin Affidavit (AC 934-P) and original death certificate should be submitted to the Payroll Reversal and Exchange mailbox at the same time as the stop payment request. 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.

Questions:

Questions regarding eligibility for a Discretionary Increase may be directed to SUNY System Administration.

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

Questions regarding military information may be directed to the Military Stipend mailbox.

Questions regarding deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.