Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for reporting transactions in Pay Period 19C.

Affected Employees

Judges who are paid using the LEG Pay Basis Code

Effective Date(s)

Administration Pay Period 19C, paychecks dated 12/18/13

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 total regular earnings received by Judges and Justices of the Unified Court System each calendar year must equal:

• The statutory salary, provided the Judge serves the entire year at one salary; or
• The prorated statutory salary based on the number of calendar days served in the calendar year for Judges who serve only part of the year at one salary; or
• The composite statutory salary based on the number of calendar days served at each statutory salary rate for Judges who serve the entire calendar year at more than one salary or a portion of the calendar year at more than one salary.

To ensure that Judges are paid their statutory salary, prorated statutory salary or composite statutory salary, whichever is applicable, an adjustment of regular earnings must be paid in the final paycheck of the calendar year.

Judges are not eligible to receive 27 paychecks in a calendar year. Therefore, since calendar year 2013 contains 27 pay periods, the adjustment is paid in the 26th paycheck. Payroll Bulletin #UCS-198 (Impact of 27 Pay Periods in Calendar Year 2013 on Judges and Justices of the Unified Court System) includes information regarding OSC’s processing for Pay Period 20C.

Eligibility Criteria

Judges who serve the entire calendar year at one salary are eligible for a year-end adjustment in the final paycheck of the year provided the Judge’s statutory salary is not evenly divisible by 26 pay periods. Judges who are active on 12/31/13 and serve the entire calendar year at more than one salary and Judges who serve only part of the year at one or more than one salary are also eligible for a year-end adjustment in the final paycheck of the year, unless the total amount of regular earnings paid in the calendar year equals the Judge’s prorated statutory or composite statutory salary, whichever is applicable.

Exception Listings and Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

Exception listings and a Control-D report will be available for agency review on 11/29/13 (after the paychecks for 12/04/13 are confirmed):

• The exception listings identify Judges who will not receive an automatic year-end adjustment based on the following exception criteria. OSC will, however, calculate normal biweekly earnings for these employees. These listings will be emailed to the Office of Court Administration.
  • Judges who have a Q06-Q13 balance for calendar year 2013.
  • Employees who transferred into a judicial position on 12/21/12 or later.
  • Judges who were returned to the payroll using the Action Rehire or Return from Leave on 12/21/12 or later.
  • Judges who have RGS earnings paid in calendar year 2013 but earned in a previous year.
• Control-D Report NPAY586 (Pay Basis Code LEG Year End Adjustment) identifies Judges tentatively scheduled to receive the automatic year-end adjustment. The amount identified in the “RGS Balance Due” column is the amount of RGS that will be paid in the final paycheck of the year.

Agency Actions in Pay Period 19C

The agency must calculate and submit a transaction in Pay Period 19C as follows to pay the year-end adjustment for those Judges who appear on any of the exception listings:

1. Determine the amount of salary entitlement for calendar year 2013 using the statutory, prorated statutory or composite statutory salary calculation provided in the section entitled “Statutory Salary Calculation”.
2. Total all monies the Judge earned and was paid in calendar year 2013 using Earnings Codes RGS, RGO, RRS and ADJ. In addition, include monies that will be calculated by the payroll system using Earnings Code RGS in Pay Period 19C.
3. Subtract the total earnings in Step #2 from the Judge’s statutory salary determined in Step #1.
4. The difference from Step #3 must be submitted on the Time Entry page using Earnings Code JYA (Judges Year End Adjustment) with the following information.

Information regarding the JYA calculation must be included on the General Comments page.

Automatic OSC Processing

OSC will automatically calculate the year-end adjustment for Judges who meet the following criteria who do not appear on any of the exception listings.

• Judges who have a Pay Basis Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on 12/20/12 and who do not have a status change or change in salary through 12/31/13.
• Judges who are newly appointed using the Action Hire or Concurrent Hire with a Pay Basis Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on or after 12/20/12 and who do not have a status change or change in salary through 12/31/13.
• Judges who have a Pay Basis Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on 12/20/12 and who do not have a status change through 12/31/13 but who do have a change in salary.
• Judges who are newly appointed using the Action Hire or Concurrent Hire with a Pay Basis Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on or after 12/20/12 and who do not have a status change through 12/31/13 but who do have a change in salary.

Statutory Salary Calculation

The Judge’s salary entitlement will be determined using one of the following methods.

Statutory Salary: The Judge served the entire calendar year at one salary.

• Use the Judge’s Annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page as the Judge’s statutory salary.

Prorated Statutory Salary: The Judge served a portion of the calendar year at one salary.

• Determine the number of calendar days the Judge served beginning with 01/01/13 through 12/31/13.
• Divide the number of days determined in Step #1 by 365 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
• Multiply the result from Step #2 by the Judge’s Annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page and round to two (2) decimal places to determine the Judger’s prorated statutory salary.

Composite Statutory Salary: A Judge who served the entire calendar year at more than one salary or a portion of the calendar year at more than one salary.

• Determine the number of calendar days the Judge served in each LEG salary beginning with 01/01/13 through 12/31/13.
• Divide the number of days at each LEG salary determined in Step #1 by 365 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
• Multiply each result from Step #2 by the Judge’s Annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page for that period of time and round to two (2) decimal places.
• Add each result from Step #3 to determine the Judge’s composite statutory salary.

Automatic Year-End Adjustment Calculation

OSC will calculate the Judge’s year-end adjustment as follows:

1. Total all monies the Judge earned and was paid in calendar year 2013 (12/20/12 through 12/04/13) using Earnings Codes RGS, RGO, RRS and ADJ.
2. Subtract the total earnings calculated in Step #1 from the Judge’s statutory salary, prorated statutory salary or composite statutory salary as determined above.
3. The difference from Step #2 will be paid in Administration Pay Period 19C using Earnings Code RGS.

Control-D Report Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review on 12/11/13, after the year-end adjustment has been processed:

NPAY586 - Pay Basis Code LEG Year End Adjustment

This report identifies all Judges who automatically received a year-end adjustment in the paycheck dated 12/18/13.

Removal of Judges

Judges Removed from the Payroll in Pay Period 19C

If a Judge does not serve through 12/31/13 and the removal transaction is effective and reported in Pay Period 19C, the year-end adjustment will not be automatically calculated. The agency must report the Earnings Code RGO with the appropriate amount of earnings the Member is eligible to receive in the final paycheck of the year. When this code is used, the earnings code RGS will not be processed.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice

The Earnings Code RGS will be displayed on the payroll register and the earnings code description “Regular Pay Salary Employee” and amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

If applicable, the Earnings Code JYA will be displayed on the payroll register and the earnings description “Judges Year End Adjustment” and amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice, in addition to the Earnings Code RGS.

If the Earnings Code RGO is reported, this earnings code will replace Earnings Code RGS and will be displayed on the payroll register and the earnings code description “Regular Pay Override” and amount will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

Questions

Questions about this Bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.