Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-181

Subject

April 2012 Service Increments, Longevity Payments and Longevity Bonus for Employees of the Unified Court System (UCS)

Date Issued

April 3, 2012

Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Eligible graded salaried employees in the following bargaining units: SR, SY, SN, SG, S9, SA, SD, G9, DR, F8, SK, 86, 87, 88 and CT

Effective Date(s)

Effective 3/29/12, paychecks dated 4/25/12, Pay Period 1L

Background

Section 37 of the Judiciary Law provides for the payment of annual increments and additional increments (longevity payments) for certain employees in the Unified Court System (UCS) Chapter 276 of the Laws of 2008 and the 2007-10 Agreements between the UCS and various unions provides for the payment of a longevity bonus (JLO) for eligible employees in UCS.

Eligibility Criteria

Service Increment

Employees must have been on the payroll for 120 full work days from 4/1/2011 through 3/31/2012 to be eligible for a service increment.

Longevity Payment

Employees must have completed four or eight years of continuous service in their current grade; have an annual salary equal to or greater than the maximum salary of their grade; and served the equivalent of 120 full work days in each fiscal year.

Longevity Bonus

Employees must have at least 20, 25, or 30 years of continuous service in the UCS as of March 31, 2012; served the equivalent of 120 full work days in each fiscal year to be eligible for longevity bonus (JLO).

In order to receive an increment, longevity payment or longevity bonus, the employee must have received a performance rating or at least satisfactory and be in active status unless otherwise specified.

Note: An unsatisfactory rating in one year does not bar increment or longevity bonus payments in future years.

Pursuant to the UCS Administrative Board the Salary Deferral for BU 86 and 88 only will remain in effect.

Chapter 276 of the Laws of 2008 calls for a salary deferral of any increases to salaries in excess of $115,000 for all employees until a law is passed to increase the salary of Supreme Court Justices to a rate greater than $136,700 or March 31, 2011, whichever comes first. Employees who hold a salary above $115,000 prior to the processing of the April 2012 increments and longevity payments will retain their salary achieved prior to the increment and longevity payment processing. Employees whose salary is increased to an amount greater than $115,000 by the increment or longevity payment processing will have their salary deferred to $115,000.

Note: The deferral does not apply to the longevity bonus payment (JLO) as this payment is not to be added to an employee’s basic annual salary.

OSC Actions

After payroll processing is completed for Pay Period 1L, OSC will process increments and longevity payments effective 3/29/12 for eligible employees whose status is Active, Paid Leave of Absence or Leave of Absence with a Reason of WDL (Workers’ Compensation Leave).

OSC will update all subsequent Job Data rows, except as noted above, in which the employee is in an eligible bargaining unit regardless of status using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).

Service Increments

Increment Code 0001: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12 to reflect the increment based on the 4/1/10 Salary Schedule not to exceed the maximum salary rate, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/INC (Pay Rate Change/Increment).
Increment Code 0004: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12, for employees who are entitled to a partial increment to the maximum salary rate based on the employee's Fixed Incremented Salary (FIS), using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) provided the FIS amount is greater than the employee’s current salary but less than or equal to the maximum salary rate.
Increment Code 0006: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12, for employees who are entitled to a partial Increment based on the employee's FIS, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/INC (Pay Rate Change/Increment) provided the FIS amount is greater than the employee’s current salary but less than or equal to the maximum salary rate.
Increment Code 0412: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/379 (Pay Rate Change/Jud Law 37.9) to reflect the FIS amount provided the FIS amount is greater than the current salary on Job Data.

Longevity Pay

Increment Code 2008: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12, for employees whose salary is equal to or greater than the maximum salary rate but less than Longevity Step 1 to reflect an increase to Longevity Step 1 from the 4/1/10 Salary Schedule, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Pay).
Increment Code 2004: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12, for employees whose salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2 to reflect an increase to Longevity Step 2 from the 4/1/10 Salary Schedule, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Pay).
Increment Code 0512: OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page effective 3/29/12 for employees whose salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2 to reflect an increase to Longevity Step 2 from the 4/1/10 Salary Schedule, using the Action/Reason code of PAY/373 (Pay Rate Change/Jud Law 37.3).

Automatic Update of Increment Codes

OSC will automatically update the increment codes, as appropriate, on the inserted rows for employees who receive an increment or longevity payment. After the increments and longevity payments are processed in Pay Period 1L, OSC will automatically insert a row and update the increment codes for employees with increment code 0003 on the Job Data page using the Action/Reason code of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Correct Increment Code) effective 3/29/12.

Current Code	Updated to
0001	0001 if new salary is below the maximum Salary Rate 2012 if new salary is equal to the maximum Salary Rate
0003	0001 if salary is equal to or greater than Hiring Rate and less than the maximum Salary Rate
0006	0001 if the new salary is less than the maximum Salary rate. 2012 if new salary is equal to the maximum Salary Rate

Salary Deferral (BU 86 and 88 only)

For employees in bargaining unit 86 or 88 affected by the Salary Deferral, a CSD row will be inserted as follows:

If an employee holds a salary greater than $115,000 prior to increment and longevity payment processing, OSC will process all increment and longevity payment increases on the salary achieved prior to the deferral. OSC will insert a subsequent row for the same dates using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD and reduce the salary back to the salary prior to the increment and longevity payment processing. All subsequent rows will be updated accordingly.
If the salary on an inserted row exceeds $115,000 as a result of the increment and longevity payment processing, OSC will insert a subsequent row using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD, and reduce the salary to $115,000. All subsequent rows will be updated in the same manner.
All increment codes on the CSD row will be carried forward from the previous row.

Longevity Bonus

OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Additional Pay page using the Earn Code JLO (effective 3/29/12, for employees whose status on 4/1/12 is Active or Paid Leave of Absence and whose Anniversary Date on the Job Data Compensation page is 3/31/92 or earlier.

The JLO amount is $1,900 for full time employees who have at least twenty (20) years, $2,000 for full time employees who have at least twenty-five (25) years, and $2,100 for full time employees who have at least thirty (30) years of continuous service in UCS. Part-time employees will receive prorated amounts.

Agency Actions Pay Period 1

To report transactions in Pay Period 1, agencies must use the following procedures:

The agency must submit all JLO transactions for eligible employees whose status is Leave of Absence with a Reason of WDL, MLL or MLS into Additional Pay.
The agency must request the Action/Reason of DTA/USP (Data Change/Unsatisfactory Performance) effective 3/29/12 for all employees who are not entitled to an increment or longevity payment due to an "Unsatisfactory" rating.The increment code must be 0003.
For Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers with an effective date on or before 3/29/12, the agency must not include the 2012 increment or longevity payment in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field. The agency must report the proper increment code for April 2012.
For Position Changes and Transfers with an effective date after 3/29/12, no automatic processing will be done by OSC provided the agency reports increment code 5555. The agency must include any applicable 2012 Service Increment and Longevity Pay in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
For Pay Changes with an effective date after 3/29/12, the agency must include, if applicable, the 2012 Service Increment or Longevity Pay in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field. The agency must report the projected increment code for April 2013.
If an employee in bargaining unit 86 or 88 holds a salary greater than $115,000 prior to increment and longevity payment processing, the agency must process all increment and longevity payment increases on the salary achieved prior to the deferral. The agency must insert a subsequent row for the same dates using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD and reduce the salary back to the salary prior to the increment and longevity payment processing. All subsequent rows must be updated accordingly.

Time Entry

To report miscellaneous earnings automatically calculated by the system (i.e. overtime), agencies must enter multiple rows in the Time Entry page if the earnings dates being reported overlap the effective date of the salary change.

The first row must be inserted with the inclusive dates prior to the effective date of the salary change. The second row must be inserted with the inclusive dates equal to and after the effective date of the salary change.

Control-D Reports Available Prior to Processing

The following Control-D report will be available after processing of Pay Period 25 is completed.

NHRP708 - Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

This report identifies employees who will not receive an automatic increment or longevity payment based on available information at the close of Pay Period 25. This will give agencies time to correct the employees’ records if necessary before automatic processing takes place. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

Position and Job do not match
FIS Missing
FIS at or below current
FIS Below Hiring Rate
FIS Over Job Rate
Current Salary < Longevity Step 1
Sal At or Above Longevity Step 1
Sal At or Above Longevity Step 2
Increment Code Missing
Increment Code Invalid
Sal Below Hiring Rate
Sal Below Job Rate
Sal At or Above Job Rate

Control-D Reports Available After Processing

The following Control-D reports will be available for agency review after the automatic processing of Pay Period 1 is completed.

NHRP708 - Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

The report identifies employees who did not receive an automatic increment or longevity payment.

Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

NHRP704 - Mass Increment Payment Report

The report identifies all employees who received an automatic increment, longevity payment and salary restoration. Fields on the report include EmplID Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Effective Date, Effective Sequence, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Action Reason, Old Comprate, New Comprate and Increment Code.

NPAY770 One Time Payment Report

This report identifies all employees receiving an automatic payment for Earnings Code JLO. Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Part-time Percentage and Payment Amount.

Agency Actions Beginning Pay Period 2

Beginning in Pay Period 2L, agencies must submit the appropriate Pay Changes for all eligible employees effective the date of the return to the payroll from a Leave of Absence (except Workers’ Compensation Leave).

Increments and Longevity Payment

Agencies must submit a Pay Change, if applicable, using the appropriate reason code on the Job Action Request page for employees who did not receive an automatic payment but are due an increase as identified on the NHRP708 - Mass Increment Payment Exception Report.

Salary Deferral (BU 86 and 88 only)

In addition, if an employee in bargaining unit 86 or 88 holds a salary greater than $115,000 or attains a salary greater than $115,000 with the processing of the increment or longevity payment, the agency must also submit a transaction using the Action/Reason code of PAY/CSD and reduce the salary.

Agency Update of Increment Codes

Agencies must update the following increment codes, as appropriate, on the Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Correct Increment Code).

Current Code	Updated to
0412	4 digit max year of current grade or 0516 if salary is between 1st and 2nd longevity steps
0512	4 digit max year of current grade
0004	04 with 2 digit year for future application of 37.9
5555	The appropriate 2013 increment code

Any increment code of 0003 resulting from an “Unsatisfactory” rating will be updated to 0001 and must be reviewed and updated accordingly.

Longevity Bonus

To report a Longevity Bonus for an eligible employee who did not receive an automatic payment, enter the following information on the Additional Pay page:

Earnings Code:	JLO
Effective Date	3/29/12 or date employee returns to payroll
OT Effective Date:	Same as effective date
Annual Additional Earnings:	Payment Amount
Earnings End Date:	3/27/13

Questions

Questions about processing transactions may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.