Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform the State University Construction Fund of OSC’s automatic processing of the SCF CSEA Signing Bonus and to provide processing instructions for entering the payment for employees not processed automatically or who require an adjustment.

Affected Employees:

Employees in Bargaining Unit 97 at SCF meeting the eligibility requirements are currently affected.

Background:

Per the 2021-2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the State University Construction Fund (SCF) and the Civil Service Employees Association, Inc. (CSEA), eligible employees in CSEA BU97 are eligible for a one-time lump sum Signing Bonus.

The Signing Bonus lump sum payment is not pensionable and not subject to across-the-board increases but must be included in the calculation of overtime.

Effective Dates:

The Signing Bonus is effective on the following date:

Pay Cycle/PP Type	Payment Effective Date	Payment End Date	Check Date
Administration 1 Lag	03/30/2023	03/27/2024	04/26/2023

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees who meet the following criteria are eligible for the Signing Bonus payment:

• Employees must have continuous service as stated in Civil Service Law Section 130.3(c) in CSEA bargaining unit 97 from 08/02/2022 through 03/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence with an Action/Reason Code of Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) on 03/30/2023 will receive the payment on the Check Dates listed above.
• Employees who retired after 08/02/2022 but on or before 03/30/2023 and who meet all other eligibility criteria will receive the payment on the Check Dates listed above.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave of Absence (except with an Action/Reason Code of Leave of Absence/MLS) on 03/30/2023 but who otherwise meet all other eligibility criteria are eligible for the Signing Bonus payment if they return to the payroll prior to the Payment End Dates listed above.

OSC Actions:

OSC has created the following Additional Pay Earnings Code to process the Signing Bonus payment:

New Earnings Code	Description
BNP	Sign Bonus Non-Pensionable

OSC will process the Signing Bonus for employees who meet the eligibility criteria with the following exceptions:

• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave of Absence (except with an Action/Reason Code of Leave of Absence/MLS) on 03/30/2023.

Calculation of Signing Bonus Payment Amount

Employees’ Comp Rate Code and work percent on 03/30/2023 determines the methodology used to calculate the Signing Bonus payment amount.

Note: The Comp Rate Code and work percent for employees who retired between 08/02/2022 and 03/30/2023 will be evaluated on the day immediately prior to the employee’s retirement effective date and used to determine the methodology when calculating the Signing Bonus payment amount.

Full Payment Amount:

The following employees will receive the full payment amount of $3,000.

• Employees with an Employee Status of Active or Leave With Pay whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is 100% on 03/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave With Pay with an Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/SKL (Sick Lv) whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is 50% on 03/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Active whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and who is on a voluntary reduction in work schedule (VRWS) on 03/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave With Pay with an Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) whose Comp Rate Code is BIW and work percent is 100% on 03/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave of Absence with an Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is 100% on 03/30/2023.

Pro-Rated Payment Amount Based on Work Percent:

The following employees will receive a prorated amount determined by multiplying the full payment amount of $3,000 by the employee’s work percent in effect on 03/30/2023:

• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave With Pay with an Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) whose Comp Rate Code is BIW and work percent is less than 100% on 3/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave of Absence with an Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is less than 100% on 3/30/2023.

Pro-Rated Payment Amount Based on Hours Worked:

The following employees will receive a prorated amount based on the number of hours worked as described in the Calculation section:

• Employees with an Employee Status of Active whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is less than 100% on 03/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave With Pay with an Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/SKL (Sick Lv) whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is less than 50% on 3/30/2023.
• Employees with an Employee Status of Leave With Pay (except with an Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/SKL) whose Comp Rate Code is ANN and work percent is less than 100% on 3/30/2023.

Calculation

The following steps must be taken to calculate the prorated Signing Bonus payment amount based on hours worked:

• Determine the total hours worked between the following Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date.

Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type	Evaluation Begin Date	Evaluation End Date
Administration Lag	08/04/2022	03/29/2023

• When totaling hours, the following Earnings Codes should be included:

Earnings Code	Earnings Description
EXT	Extra Time
EXO	Extra Time Override
LT1	Lost Time
LTO	Lost Time Override
RGS	Regular Pay Salary Employee

Note: In instances where the earnings dates overlap the Evaluation Begin Date or Evaluation End Date provided above, only those transactions with an Earnings Begin Date equal to or greater than the Evaluation Begin Date and an Earnings End Date equal to or less than the Evaluation End Date will be included.

• Divide the total hours worked by 1360 (170 workdays between the Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date x 8 hours per day).

Note: For employees who retired on or before 03/30/2023, the total hours worked must be divided by (8 hours per day x the number of work days between 08/02/2022 and the day prior to the retirement date).

• The result is rounded to 4 decimal places. This is the proration percentage.
• The full Signing Bonus payment amount of $3,000 is multiplied by the proration percentage and rounded to the nearest cent. This is the prorated Signing Bonus payment amount.

Creation of Additional Pay Record

In Administration Pay Period 1, OSC will update the Additional Pay records of eligible employees as follows:

Earnings Code:	BNP
Effective Date:	Payment Effective Date in chart above
OT Eff Date:	Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings:	$3,000 or prorated amount if applicable based on the information contained in the Calculation of Signing Bonus Payment Amount section
End Date:	Payment End Date in chart above or if employee is retired, same as Effective Date

Agency Actions – Payments Not Processed Automatically:

The agency must submit transactions to process the Signing Bonus payment for the following employees:

• Employees who meet the Eligibility Criteria but have an Employee Status of Leave of Absence (except with an Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/MLS) on 03/30/2023 and who return to the payroll prior to the applicable Payment End Date in the Effective Dates section.

Submitting Payment

To process the Signing Bonus payment to eligible employees who were not processed automatically, the agency must submit the following information on the Additional Pay page:

Earnings Code:	BNP
Effective Date:	Payment Effective Date in chart above or date the employee returns to the payroll
OT Eff Date:	Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings:	$3,000 or prorated amount if applicable based on the information contained in the Calculation of Signing Bonus Payment Amount section
End Date:	Payment End Date in chart above

Agency Actions – Increasing the Automatic Payment Amount:

Original Payment Amount Prorated Based on Hours

The agency must correct the payment amount for employees whose Signing Bonus payment was calculated based on hours and who received less than the full payment amount of $3,000 if any of the following apply:

• Earnings Code RGO (Regular Pay Override)
  Hours paid using Earnings Code RGO should be included in the calculation, but hours do not exist in PayServ. Therefore, if an employee received the Signing Bonus payment and has RGO earnings in their record earned between the appropriate Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date in the Calculation section, the agency must correct the Signing Bonus payment amount. Divide these additional hours by 1360, round the result to four places, multiply by the full payment amount of $3,000 and round to the nearest cent.
• Eligible Transactions Submitted Subsequent to Automatic Payment Processing
  If subsequent to an employee receiving the automatic Signing Bonus payment, a transaction is submitted on the Job Data page or for any of the eligible earnings codes listed above plus Earnings Code RGO effective between the appropriate Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date in the Calculation section that results in the employee receiving increased hours, the agency must correct the Signing Bonus payment amount. Divide these additional hours by 1360, round the result to four places, multiply by the full payment amount of $3,000 and round to the nearest cent.
• Action/Reason Code of Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip)
  Hours do not exist in PayServ when an employee is on an Unpaid Military Stipend Leave. Therefore, if an employee received the Signing Bonus payment and was on an Unpaid Military Stipend Leave between the appropriate Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date in the Calculation section, the agency must correct the Signing Bonus payment amount. Divide the hours the employee would have received had the employee not been on an Unpaid Military Stipend Leave by the 1360, round the result to four places, multiply by the full payment amount of $3,000 and round to the nearest cent.
• Workers’ Compensation Leave (Reason Codes WDL or WPS)
  Hours do not exist in PayServ when an employee is on Workers’ Compensation Leave. Therefore, if an employee received the Signing Bonus payment and was on a Workers’ Compensation Leave between the appropriate Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date in the Calculation section, the agency must correct the Signing Bonus payment amount. Divide the hours the employee would have received had the employee not been on a Workers’ Compensation Leave by 1360, round the result to four places, multiply by the full payment amount of $3,000 and round to the nearest cent.
• Action/Reason Code of Paid Leave of Absence/SKL (Sick Lv)
  Hours are prorated in PayServ when an employee is on a Paid Sick Leave. Therefore, if an employee received the Signing Bonus payment and was on a Paid Sick Leave between the appropriate Evaluation Begin Date and Evaluation End Date in the Calculation section, the agency must correct the Signing Bonus payment amount. Total the hours the employee would have received had the employee not been on a Paid Sick Leave and subtract the prorated hours appearing in PayServ for the same period. Divide these additional hours by the 1360, round the result to four places, multiply by the full payment amount of $3,000 and round to the nearest cent.

Submitting Payment Correction

If the employee has been underpaid, the agency must insert a row on the Additional pay page at the Effective Date level of Earnings Code BNP and enter the following information:

Effective Date:	The first date of the pay period being processed
OT Eff Date:	Same as original OT Eff Date
Annual Addl Earnings:	Signing Bonus payment amount that has been paid plus those additional monies calculated above
End Date:	Same as original End Date
Goal Balance:	Signing Bonus payment amount that has been paid

Note: The system will pay the difference between the Annual Addl Earnings and the Goal Balance.

Overtime Calculation

The Signing Bonus payment must be included in the calculation of overtime compensation.

Ending Overtime Eligibility

If an employee has received the Signing Bonus payment and is appointed to a position that is not eligible to receive the bonus payment, the Signing Bonus payment cannot be included in the compensation calculation of overtime earned after the date of the appointment. Therefore, the agency must insert a row on the Additional Pay page at the Effective Date level of Earnings Code BNP and enter the following information:

Effective Date:	Last date in an eligible position (date prior to appointment)
OT Eff Date:	Same as original OT Eff Date
Annual Addl Earnings:	Same as original amount (populates automatically)
End Date:	Same as Effective Date
Goal Balance:	Same as Annual Addl Earnings (to prevent making another payment)

Control-D Report Available After Processing:

After processing of the Signing Bonus payment in Administration Pay Period 1 is completed, the following Control-D report will be available for agency use:

NPAY770 – One Time Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the Signing Bonus payment in one of the above check dates.

Retirement and Deduction Information:

The Signing Bonus payment is non-pensionable and not subject to union dues. Deductions will be taken from the Signing Bonus payment for garnishments and federal levies.

Tax Information:

The Signing Bonus payment is supplemental taxable income, will be added to the employee’s taxable gross wages, and is subject to 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).

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice:

The Earnings Code and the amount paid will be displayed on the Payroll Register. The Earnings Descriptions and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions:

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