Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing of the SOS adjustments.

Affected Employees

Eligible employees in Negotiating Units SY, DR, F8 and 87

Effective Date(s)

Pay Period 13L, paychecks dated 10/15/08

Background

Chapter 104 of the Laws of 2006 and various side letters provided for 2004-2006 retroactive payments of the Senior Officer Series Differential for eligible employees in Negotiating Units SY, DR, F8 and 87.

Chapter 276 of the Laws of 2008 and 2007-2011 bargaining agreements authorize the continuation of this payment and an increase in the annual earnings amount.

Payment Provisions

Nonjudicial officers and employees who hold the position of Senior Court Officer or New York State Court Officer-Sergeant who are currently receiving or have received SOS earnings since April 2007, will have their SOS earnings increased according to the new bargaining unit agreements.

Agencies should refer to Payroll Bulletin UCS-108 for eligibility information.

OSC Actions

OSC will update existing Additional Pay Earn Code SOS (Senior Officer Series Differential) rows, dated 4/5/07 or later, according to the following effective dates and amounts:

OSC will update subsequent rows with the appropriate amount.

Agency Actions

Agencies must submit adjustments to SOS earnings for any mid-pay period adjustments previously entered by the agency, effective April 5, 2007 or later, using Earnings Code AOD (Adjust Senior Officer Series Differential). The current pay period Begin Date must be used for all AOD transactions.

Agencies must review SOS overpayments recovered by the OVP earn code and take appropriate action to adjust the overpayment.

Agencies must review payments for employees who are exceptions to the original eligibility criteria. If an employee is not in an eligible bargaining unit but has been deemed eligible for SOS earnings, then the agency must submit a DTA/COR transaction to request that the SOS earnings be updated by OSC. Agency must submit an exception list to OSC Audit by close of Payroll Period 12L.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate adjustments resulting from the retroactive SOS payments. Adjustments will be paid for any period in which the SOS was previously paid.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one (1) agency since the effective date of the SOS payments, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

Retroactive Adjustments for Additional Pay and Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earn codes that are calculated based on an employee’s additional salary factors such as overtime (OTD) and holiday (HPA) will be automatically adjusted.

Control-D Report

The Control-D report titled Mass Additional Pay Report(NHRP703) will be available for agency review on October 3, 2008.

This report identifies all employees whose SOS earnings were updated. The report will be sorted by DeptID and then by employee name, in alphabetical order. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record #, Employee Name, Earns Code (SOS – Senior Officer Differential Series), Grade, Salary Plan, Bargaining Unit, Part Time Percentage and Updated Max Effective Dated Amount.

Miscellaneous Payment Information

The Senior Officer Series Differential (SOS) is included in the calculation of overtime and is pensionable.

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:

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 and the Earnings Codes SOS and AOD and their descriptions will be displayed on the payroll register and the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions

Questions about processing transactions may be e-mailed to the Non-Executive Audit mailbox.