Purpose

To notify the SUNY Construction Fund of OSC’s automatic processing of the 3% Salary Increase and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically

Affected Employees

Eligible SUNY Construction Fund employees in Bargaining Units 96 and 97

Background

The State University Construction Fund Resolution and Chapter 10 of the Laws of 2008 provide for a 3% retroactive Salary Increase for eligible employees in Bargaining Units 96 and 97.

Effective Date(s)

Paychecks dated 3/5/08 (Administration)

Eligibility Criteria

Employees in Bargaining Units 96 and 97 with a Pay Basis Code of ANN or HRY, who are Active, on a Paid Leave of Absence, or on a Leave without Pay with a Reason Code of WCL, WDL, WPS or WSP effective 4/5/07.

OSC Actions

After payroll processing for Pay Period 23L (Administration) is completed, OSC will automatically insert rows in the Job Data page to reflect the April 2007 3% Salary Increase for annual and hourly employees in Bargaining Units 96 and 97.

• For employees who are Active, on a Paid Leave of Absence or on a Workers’ Compensation Leave, OSC will insert a row in the employee’s Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of PAY/SAC (Pay Rate Change/Mass Salary Increase) with an effective date of 4/5/07 (Administration).
• For employees who are Inactive or on a Leave of Absence without Pay on 4/5/07, the increase will be applied to the employee’s Job Data record only if the employee is returned to the payroll in Bargaining Unit 96 or 97. Rows will be inserted as of the effective date of the Return from Leave action using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for Annual employees or PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/ Change Rate) for Hourly employees and the new salary.

Any subsequent rows on the Job Data record also will be updated automatically by inserting additional rows with the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) for Annual employees or PAY/CRT (Pay Rate Change/Change Rate) for Hourly employees provided the employee remained in Bargaining Unit 96 or 97.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate retroactive payments resulting from the April 2007 retroactive General Salary Increase.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid by all agencies using the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency and have been paid from more than one (1) Employee Record Number since the effective date of the increases, the retroactive adjustment for earnings in each Employee Record Number will be paid in the most current agency, on the appropriate pay cycle, under each Employee Record Number.

Retroactive Adjustments for Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earn codes that are calculated based on an employee’s salary rate and additional salary factors such as Overtime (OTA) and Holiday Pay (HPA) will be automatically adjusted.

The following earn codes will be adjusted automatically:

• Holiday Pay (HPA), Lump Sum Payment-Vacation (LSA), Lump Sum Payment-OT Accruals (LSB), Lost Time (LT1), OT for Annuals (OTA), OT Straight Rate for Annuals (OTB), Regular Pay Salary Employee (RGS), Salary LSP Annuals (SLS)

Retroactive Adjustments for Employees Currently Inactive Who Have An Outstanding Overpayment

For employees who are Inactive at the time of payment, the retroactive raise adjustment will be applied to any Overpayment (OVP) set up in Additional Pay that has a Goal Amount and Goal Balance that are not equal. The payroll system will determine the difference between the Goal Balance and Goal Amount and will deduct the difference from the employee’s check. If the amount of the positive earnings is not sufficient to deduct the entire overpayment, the system will deduct the amount of positive earnings possible and update the OVP Goal Balance accordingly.

Retroactive Payments for Employees Receiving Military Stipends

For employees who were placed on Military Stipend Leave with or without Pay on or after the effective date of the increases as a result of new military orders, OSC will recalculate the amount of military stipend.

• For those who received a stipend, the increase in biweekly stipend will be updated on the Job Data record by inserting a new row to reflect the new biweekly stipend amount. Any additional adjustment that is required due to the change in stipend that will not be calculated automatically by the retro process will be reported by OSC in the Time Entry page using the Earn Code ADJ.
• For those who did not receive a stipend but became eligible for a stipend because of the increased salary, OSC will take the necessary action on the Job Data and/or Time Entry page to pay the required increases.

Agency Actions

Job Record Reporting

Job Request or Position Data Actions for Employees Identified on the Control-D NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

The Control-D report NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report will be available for agency review prior to the processing of the automatic Salary Increases. The report will identify employees who have Job rows that will not be increased automatically due to:

• the data contained on the Job row is different than the data contained on Position Data, based on the NYS Position Number;
• an NS employee has a value in both the Equated to Grade and Not to Exceed fields based on the NYS Position Number; or
• an employee’s current salary is below the hiring rate of their grade.

The following message will appear:

• Position and Job Do Not Match

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, using the appropriate Action/Reason code. After the row is corrected, the automatic increase will be applied.

New Hires, Rehires, Position Changes, and Transfers Reported in the Same Pay Period as the Automatic Increases

Agencies must report salaries based on the existing 2007 Salary Schedule when processing pay changes, position changes, and transfers in the pay period in which the raise will be processed.

Terminating Hourly Employees Who Are No Longer Active

Since the increase will be automatically applied to all hourly employees who are Active on or after the effective date of the increases, the agency should terminate employees who are no longer employed by the agency, effective the day after the last date worked.

Time Entry Reporting

• When reporting RGS earnings in the pay period in which the raise will be processed, the agency must use the increased salary to calculate the RGS amount. The payroll system will not adjust RGS earnings reported in the current pay period.
• When reporting an earnings amount for an earn code that is calculated using the employee’s salary rate, such as OTT (Out of Title Overtime), the agency may report the Out of Title Overtime earnings using the increased rate.

Reporting Retroactive Adjustments

The following Time Entry and Additional Pay earnings will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, commencing in the pay period in which the raise is processed, the agency may report the appropriate retroactive adjustments in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and the appropriate Earnings Begin and End Dates. An explanation of the adjustment must be included in the Time Entry comments or on the General Comments page.

• ADJ Adjustment
• BSA Back Salary Award
• ES2 Extra Service Amount
• LSI Lump Sum Payment Override
• LTO Lost Time Override
• OTTOut of Title Overtime
• RGO Regular Salary Override
• SLO Salary Lump Sum Payment Override

Reporting An Adjustment When the Automatic Retroactive Adjustment Is Incorrect

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 these conditions and, if required, must submit the necessary adjustment of earnings in the Time Entry page, using the Earn Code AJR and appropriate Begin and End Dates.

If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic increase 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.

• If an employee had a check returned or exchanged on an AC 230 for service dates on or after the effective date of the increase, the payroll system does not consider the AC 230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment. Therefore, the agency should review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine the amount of the adjustment to be reported.
• If an employee’s Pay Basis Code changed from HRY to ANN, the agency must review the automatic retroactive adjustment and determine if it is correct. If the adjustment is not correct, the agency must report an adjustment of earnings.
• If an employee was paid on an AC 39 (Typewritten Payroll), the payroll system will not adjust the earnings processed on the AC 39.  The agency must report the adjustment of earnings.
• For employees who had a Job Action or Additional Pay change reported since the effective date of the raise and the action reported resulted in an overpayment of earnings, the automatic negative retroactive adjustment may not have been processed because the overpayment was either not recoverable or recoverable using the OVP Earn Code or an AC 230. In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the automatic increase is processed.

The agency must review the record of employees who meet any of the above conditions and enter a General Comment with instructions for how to resolve negative retroactive adjustments calculated by the payroll system. If money needs to be added to the retro calculation, the agency must submit the Earn Code AJR on the Time Entry page along with General Comments explaining the adjustment.

Control-D Reports

The following reports will be available in Control-D after the automatic increases are processed:

NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report will identify employees who did not receive an automatic increase on one or more Job Data rows as a result of the following:

• Position and Job Do Not Match

NHRP704 Mass Salary Payment Report

This report will identify all employees who received the General Salary Increase. The report identifies all salaries that were automatically increased.

Deduction Information

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

Code	Narrative
410	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
GARNSH	Garnishments
HIATRG	Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP	Special After Tax Health Adj
HIBTRG	Regular Before Tax Health
HIBTSP	Special Before Tax Health Adj

Undeliverable Checks

Inactive employees may be eligible for a payment as a result of the adjustments. If the agency has made an effort to deliver the check to the employee but the check has been returned and is undeliverable, the agency should forward the check to the NYS Department of Tax and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 456.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P) and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P).

For recipients of a previously deceased employee's payroll checks where a Next of Kin Affidavit and Report of Check Exchange forms have been submitted, OSC will accept a photocopy of these forms to process the exchange of the check.

Payroll Register and Employee's Paycheck/Advice

All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the payroll register and the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions

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