Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform the State University Construction Fund of OSC’s automatic processing of the April 2021 and April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases and provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Employees designated management or confidential in bargaining unit 96 who meet the eligibility criteria are affected.

Background

Chapter 361 of the Laws of 2022 provides for a salary increase of two percent (2.00%) for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

The State University Construction Fund’s Board of Trustees approved Resolution includes retroactive salary increases of two percent (2.00%) for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

The Division of the Budget Bulletin D-1146 provides guidelines regarding the implementation of this payment.

Effective Dates

The April 2021 and April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases will be paid using the following effective date and check date:

Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type	2021 Payment Effective Date	2022 Payment Effective Date	Check Date
Administration Lag	04/01/2021	03/31/2022	08/31/2022

Eligibility Criteria

The following employees are eligible to receive the April 2021 and April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases:

• Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN who are in an NS position (Grade 600)
• Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN who are in an NS position (Grade 600) which is equated to a grade (Grade 603-668)

As of the date of this bulletin, there are no positions with a Comp Rate Code of HRY or FEE. Information relating to minimum wage is not addressed in this bulletin.

An otherwise eligible employee who is on Leave of Absence (not related to Workers’ Compensation Leave) on the payment effective dates listed above will become eligible to receive payment upon their return to the payroll.

Agency Withholding Recommendations

Per DOB Bulletin D-1146, agencies may request DOB approval to withhold the April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases based on documented unsatisfactory job performance or other relevant factors.

In addition, employees appointed to NS Exempt or Pending Exempt class positions must meet additional eligibility criteria outlined in DOB Bulletin D-1146 to receive the compounded 2021 and 2022 increases in FY2022-2023. Employees who do not meet the additional criteria will be identified by DOB and communicated to OSC with the appropriate increased salary the employee is entitled to receive. There is no agency action needed.

Please refer to the DOB bulletin for more information.

Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency use on 08/04/2022 (Administration). This will give the agency time to correct employees’ records, if necessary, prior to the automatic processing of the April 2021 and April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases. The report is sorted by Department ID, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NHRP709 – Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report is a preliminary listing of employees who appear ineligible to receive the April 2021 and April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases based on information available as of the date the report is produced. Included on the report is one or more of the following messages which identifies the reason(s) the employee’s record will not be updated:

• NYS Position Has Both Equated Grade and NTE – if the employee’s Grade on the Position Data page (based on the NYS Position Number) is equal to 600 and a value exists in both the Equated to Grade field and the Approved Salary Rate field
• Position and Job do not match – if the Position Number equals the NYS Position Number on the employee’s Job Data page but the Bargaining Unit, Salary Administration Plan or Grade on the Job Data page and the Position Data page are not equal
• Inc Code Req Review – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 2222

If an employee appears on this report but is due a salary increase, the agency must take the following action:

• Submit the appropriate transaction(s) on the Job Action Requests page to correct the information on the Job Data row(s). If the row(s) is corrected prior to Administration Pay Period 10L, the automatic salary increase will be processed.
• Submit a Position Change Request to the Position Management Unit if the position information is incorrect on the Position Data page in PayServ but is correct in NYSTEP. The position will be updated to reflect the change and the automatic salary increase will be processed provided the agency’s position request contains the same information as the position information in NYSTEP.

Employees who appear on the report but whose records are not corrected prior to automatic processing will not automatically receive the April 2021 and April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases. The agency must submit the appropriate transactions to correct the employee’s record and to pay the increase in Administration Pay Period 11L.

OSC Actions

OSC will process the April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases for the following employees:

• If the employee meets the eligibility criteria and has a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence due to a Workers’ Compensation Leave (Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/WCL, WDL, WPS) on the payment effective date, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason Code of Pay Rate Change/SAC (Mass Salary Increase) using the following effective dates:
  • 2021 2% Increase: Effective 04/01/2021 (Administration)
  • 2022 2% Increase: Effective 03/31/2022 (Administration)
• If the employee meets the eligibility criteria but has a Payroll Status of Terminated, Retired, or Leave of Absence (not related to a Workers’ Compensation Leave) on the payment effective date and returns to Active status in an eligible position, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Correct Salary) if the Comp Rate Code is ANN.  The row will be inserted using the effective date of the Rehire or Return from Leave action.
• If the employee is newly hired or transfers into an eligible position after the payment effective date, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason Code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Correct Salary) if the Comp Rate Code is ANN.  The row will be inserted using the effective date of the Hire, Position Change, or Transfer action.
• OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page using the Action/Reason Code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Correct Salary) if the Comp Rate Code is ANN for all subsequent rows provided the employee remains in an eligible position.

Calculating the New Compensation Rate

The salary on each inserted row will be calculated as follows:

2021 Retroactive 2% Increase Processing

• If the employee has a Comp Rate Code of ANN and a Grade equal to 600 (not equated to a grade), OSC will automatically increase the salary by applying 2.00% rounded to the nearest dollar.
• If the employee has a Comp Rate Code of ANN, a Grade equal to 600 with an equated grade equal to 603-668 OSC will automatically increase the salary by applying 2.00% rounded to the nearest dollar.

2022 Retroactive 2% Increase Processing

• If the employee has a Comp Rate Code of ANN and a Grade equal to 600 (not equated to a grade), OSC will automatically increase the salary by applying 2.00% rounded to the nearest dollar.
• If the employee has a Comp Rate Code of ANN, a Grade equal to 600 with an equated grade equal to 603-668, OSC will automatically increase the salary by applying 2.00% rounded to the nearest dollar.

Exceptions

• Employees in a composite position (identified by Increment Code 2222).
• Employees who appear on a DOB approved withholding recommendation list.

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D reports will be available for agency review after the automatic payments have been processed. All reports will be sorted by Department ID, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NHRP704 – Mass Increment Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the automatic April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases and includes all employees’ salaries that were increased in an eligible bargaining unit.

NHRP709 – Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

This report identifies employees who did not receive the automatic April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases. Included on the report is one or more of the following messages which identifies the reason(s) the employee’s record was not updated:

• NYS Position Has Both Equated Grade and NTE
• Position and Job do not match
• Inc Code Req Review

See Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing for an explanation of these messages.

Agency Actions

Beginning Administration Pay Period 10L

The following procedures must be used by the agency when submitting transactions in Administration Pay Period 10L:

• For pay changes, position changes, and transfers requested on the Job Action Requests or Transfer Requests page with an effective date on or after 04/01/2021 (Administration):
  • The agency must not include the April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
  • The 04/01/2020 Salary Schedule must be used to calculate the salary.

Exception

The agency may submit transactions in Administration Pay Period 10L to pay the SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases to the following employees:

• Employees in a composite position (identified by Increment Code 2222)

Composite Positions

Beginning in Administration Pay Period 10L, the agency must review employees in composite positions (identified by Increment Code 2222) and submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate Reason Code (see below) to pay the salary increase. Information regarding the composite position must be included on the General Comments page.

To Process Payment Manually

The following Action/Reason Code(s) must be used to pay the April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases to eligible employees not processed automatically:

• Reason Code SAC (Mass Salary Increase – for transactions effective:
  • 2021 Increase – on 04/01/2021 (Administration)
  • 2022 Increase – on 03/31/2022 (Administration)
• Reason Code CSL (Correct Salary) for ANN Comp Rate Code– for subsequent effective dated transactions effective:
  • 2021 Increase – after 04/01/2021 (Administration)
  • 2022 Increase – after 03/31/2022 (Administration)

Beginning Administration Pay Period 11L

Employees Who Receive an Increased Hiring Rate on or After the Payment Effective Date

Employees who receive an Increased Hiring Rate on or after the payment effective date 04/01/2021 or 03/31/2022 (Administration) may not be entitled to have the increase applied to their entire salary. OSC will manually update the salaries after the automatic increase is applied. If any additional corrections are needed, the agency should submit transactions as soon as possible in order to avoid an overpayment to the employee.

Employees Who Appeared on the NHRP709 – Mass Salary Increase Exception Report

Employees who appeared on the NHRP709 Mass Salary Increase Exception Report made available after processing did not automatically receive the April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary Increases. The agency should submit the appropriate transactions to correct the employee’s record and submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate Reason Code to pay the salary increase beginning in Administration Pay Period 11L.

To Process Payment Manually

For instructions for submitting pay changes, see Agency Actions – Administration Pay Period 10L, To Process Payment Manually.

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 (OTA) and Holiday Pay (HPA), resulting from payment of the April 2021 and/or April 2022 SCF M/C Retroactive Salary 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 11L, the agency must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as Extra Time Override (EXO) and Regular Salary Override (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 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

When an adjustment is needed for COVID-19 overtime such as CVO, ARC must be used. When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OTT, ARO must be entered. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 1893 for more information. The agency must continue to use AJR for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment as a result of a retro salary increase.

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

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

Military Stipend Leave

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 the 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 the 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:

SUNY ORP Suspense Before Tax Arrear

Code	Description
406	Strike/Discip Fine
410	Health Care Spending Account
416	Deferred Comp
420	NY Dependent Care Contribution
425	Repay State Loans/Debt
426	Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428	Dependent Care
433	Total Unemployment Ins Owed
442	Pre-Tax Adoption
500	Medicare Deficiency
501	Social Security Deficiency
502	NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
673	SUNY ORP Before Tax Arrears
674	SUNY ORP Suspense Before Tax Arrear
GARNSH	Garnishments
HIATRG	Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP	Special After Tax Health Adj

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 reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

The adjustments (AJR, ARC, ARO, and Retro (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 Filed for Retirement Social Security Benefits:

Per Internal Revenue Service Publication 957, OSC will be reporting retro 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 2021 tax year. It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retiree Indicator box is checked for rehired retirees. Please see Payroll Bulletin No. 1728 for further details on the New York Retiree Indicator box.

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 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 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.

Questions:

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

Questions regarding position change requests may be directed to the Position Management mailbox.

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

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