Purpose

To inform the Office of Court Administration, Payroll Operations of OSC’s automatic processing for Pay Period 20C and to explain those areas for which the agency will be responsible.

Affected Employees

Judges and Justices of the Unified Court System who are paid using the LEG Pay Basis Code

Background

Pursuant to Article 7-B, Section 220 of the Judiciary Law, and the agreement between the Chief Administrative Judge and the Office of the State Comptroller, the salaries of Judges and Justices of the Unified Court System are to be paid in 26 biweekly installments. For this reason, judges are paid using the LEG pay basis code which calculates an employee’s biweekly salary by dividing the annual salary by 26. Therefore, when a calendar year contains 27 pay periods, judges are not eligible to receive the final paycheck in that year.

Paychecks for Administration Pay Period 20C will be dated 12/31/13 since 01/01/14 is a holiday resulting in 27 paychecks for calendar year 2013. Since judges will receive their full annual salary in Administration Pay Period 19C, paychecks dated 12/18/13, each judge must be placed on a Leave of Absence for Administration Pay Period 20C to prevent an overpayment.

Effective Date(s)

Administration Pay Period 20C, paychecks dated 12/31/13

Eligibility Criteria

Employees who meet the following criteria will be placed on a Leave of Absence for Administration Pay Period 20C in order to prevent the creation of the 12/31/13 paycheck.

• Department = 05XX9
• Pay Basis Code = LEG
• Payroll Status on 12/19/13 = Active, Leave With Pay

OSC Actions

After agency processing is complete for Administration Pay Period 20C, OSC will automatically insert a row on the Job Data page with an Effective Date of 12/19/13 and an Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/L27 (LEG 27th Statutory Pause).

OSC will automatically insert an additional row with an Effective Date of 01/02/14 and an Action/Reason code of Return From Leave/RLV (Rein Leave).

As a result, these employees will receive a paycheck dated 12/18/13 and 01/15/14 but will not receive a paycheck dated 12/31/13.

Retirement and Deduction Information

There will be no catch-up for general deductions (e.g., union dues, garnishments, retirement contributions, etc.). These deductions will resume when employees are returned from leave the following pay period.

For health insurance deductions, the Department of Civil Service will apply catch-up deductions in addition to the regular deduction. For personal insurance deductions (life, auto, home, etc.), each vendor will determine the catch-up methodology which may result in a catch-up deduction or a direct bill to the employee.

The OGS parking fee deduction, (code 427) will either be direct billed to the employee or OGS will initiate a catch-up deduction in the paycheck dated 01/15/14, as deemed necessary by OGS.

Employees will have met the maximum annual retirement service credit of 260 days with the 26th paycheck. Therefore, no service credit adjustment will be necessary for employees who were Active since January 1, 2013. Employees who became Active after January 1, 2013 will have their retirement service credit adjusted as appropriate, but not to exceed an additional retirement service credit of 10 days. Direct Deposit will resume when employees are returned from leave the following pay period. 

Questions

Questions regarding payment information may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.

Questions regarding deductions and retirement may be directed to the Payroll Deductions mailbox.

Questions regarding withholding taxes may be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.