Purpose
To inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the retroactive October 2014, April 2015, April 2016, and April 2017 salary increases for Bargaining Units SR, SY and S9, and provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.
Affected Employees
Employees in the following bargaining units who meet the eligiblity criteria:
| New York State Court Officers Association | Bargaining Unit SR |
| New York State Supreme Court Officers Association | Bargaining Unit SY |
| New York State Court Clerks Association | Bargaining Unit S9 |
Background
Chapters 71 and 72 of the Laws of 2018, in conjunction with Chapter 400 of the Laws of 2014 and Chapter 98 of the Laws of 2017, implemented the 2011-2021 Agreements between the State of New York Unified Court System (UCS) and the New York State Court Officers Association (Bargaining Unit SR), the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association (Bargaining Unit SY), and the New York State Court Clerks Association (Bargaining Unit S9).
The Agreements between the UCS and Bargaining Units SR and SY provide for a salary increase of two percent (2.00%) or $1,000, whichever is greater effective October 1, 2014, two percent (2.00%) or $1,000, whichever is greater effective April 1, 2015, two percent (2.00%) or $1,000, whichever is greater effective April 1, 2016 and two percent (2.00%) or $1,000, whichever is greater effective April 1, 2017 for all eligible represented non-judicial employees in Bargaining Units SR or SY.
The Agreement between the UCS and Bargaining Unit S9 provides for a salary increase of two percent (2.00%) effective October 1, 2014, two percent (2.00%) effective April 1, 2015, two percent (2.00%) effective April 1, 2016 and two percent (2.00%) effective April 1, 2017 for all eligible represented non-judicial employees in Bargaining Unit S9.
Prospective Increases
Bargaining Units SR and SY: Adjustments to current salaries were previously entered for Bargaining Units SR and SY effective November 2, 2017, giving all eligible employees the benefit of the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 and April 2017 salary increases as of November 2, 2017. Therefore, no additional salary increases will be applied for these bargaining units on or after November 2, 2017, and there will be no retroactive money due after this date. See UCS Payroll Bulletin 251.
Bargaining Unit S9: Adjustments to current salaries were previously entered for Bargaining Unit S9 effective March 8, 2018, giving all eligible employees the benefit of the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 and April 2017 salary increases as of March 8, 2018. Therefore, no additional salary increases will be applied for this bargaining unit on or after March 8, 2018, and there will be no retroactive money due after this date. See UCS Payroll Bulletin 254.
Effective Date(s)
The Retroactive Salary Increases will be paid using the following effective dates and check date.
| Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type | Payment Effective Date | Retro Pay End Date | Check Date |
| Admin 7 Lag | 9/25/2014 | SR, SY: 11/2/2017 S9: 3/8/2018 | 7/25/2018 |
| Admin 7 Lag | 3/26/2015 | SR, SY: 11/2/2017 S9: 3/8/2018 | 7/25/2018 |
| Admin 7 Lag | 4/7/2016 | SR, SY: 11/2/2017 S9: 3/8/2018 | 7/25/2018 |
| Admin 7 Lag | 4/6/2017 | SR, SY: 11/2/2017 S9: 3/8/2018 | 7/25/2018 |
Eligibility Criteria
The following employees in Bargaining Units SR, SY or S9 with a status of Active (A), Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence (L) with an Action Reason code of WDL (WC Dis Lv) as of the payment effective date are eligible to receive the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 and/or April 2017 Salary Increases.
- Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN who are in an NS position (Grade 560)
- Employees with a Pay Basis Code of ANN who are in a graded position (Grade 501-538)
Incumbency Criteria – Bargaining Units SR and SY Only
October 2014: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR, SY or S9, on September 24, 2014 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the October 2014 two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 salary increase, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a 2.00% salary increase only.
April 2015: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR, SY or S9, on March 31, 2015 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the April 2015 two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 salary increase, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a 2.00% salary increase only.
April 2016: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR, SY or S9, on March 31, 2016 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the April 2016 two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 salary increase, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a 2.00% salary increase only.
April 2017: Employees who are Active or on an approved leave of absence, and in Bargaining Unit F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR, SY or S9, on March 31, 2017 are considered incumbents and are eligible for the April 2017 two percent (2.00%) or $1,000 salary increase, whichever is greater. If the employee does not meet the incumbency criteria, the employee will be eligible for a 2.00% salary increase only.
Note: Bargaining Units F8, G9, DR, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN and S9 are considered for incumbency purposes only. If the employee is in one of these Bargaining Units on the raise effective date, the Bargaining Unit SR or SY raise will not be applied to that Job Data row. The Bargaining Unit SR or SY retroactive raise will only be applied to the Job Data rows where the Bargaining Unit on the Job Data record is either SR or SY.
Report Available Prior to Processing
OSC will send a file identifying all employees who appear eligible for a Bargaining Unit SR, SY or S9 retroactive salary increase. UCS will compare this file to an agency-generated file to be sure all employees are identified.
Agency Actions
The Office of Court Administration will submit to OSC a file containing all job history rows for all employees eligible for any retroactive Bargaining Unit SR, SY and/or S9 salary increase.
Inserting Rows on the File
UCS must review each employee to determine eligibility for a salary increase. If the employee is eligible for one or more Bargaining Unit SR, SY or S9 salary increase, rows must be inserted on the file to apply the raise on the applicable raise effective dates and all subsequently affected rows.
For inserted rows, UCS must populate the following fields:
- Employee ID
- Empl Record Number
- NYS Job Code
- Effective Date
- Comp Rate – the end result of all applied salary increases for which the employee is eligible as of the effective date of the row
- Action Code – PAY
- Action Reason Code
- Reason Code SAC – if the effective date of the row is equal to the effective date of the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 or April 2017 salary increase
- Reason Code CSL – if the effective date of the row is not equal to the effective date of the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 or April 2017 salary increase.
If the employee is not eligible for a salary increase on a payment effective date or on a subsequent row, no row should be inserted on the file. Also, no row should be inserted for any date after November 2, 2017 for Bargaining Unit SR or SY, and March 8, 2018 for Bargaining Unit S9.
If a raise-eligible employee in Bargaining Unit SR, SY or S9 transfers into another bargaining unit after the effective date of the raise, UCS must calculate the employee’s new salary on these rows. OSC will make any necessary corrections on the employee’s Job Data record.
No other changes may be made on the file. If it is discovered that any corrections besides those directly related to the salary increases are necessary, UCS must request these corrections through PayServ. The salary increase file is only to be used to process the salary increases on the applicable raise effective dates and to update the salaries of affected employees’ job histories as necessary.
The final file must be returned to OSC no later than July 6, 2018 in order to be processed for the paycheck date July 25, 2018.
Updating Subsequent Job Data Rows After the Final File is Sent to OSC
If an employee in Bargaining Unit SR, SY or S9 has a row inserted into the Job Data record in Administration Pay Period 7L, effective during the retroactive time frame (9/24/2015 through 11/1/2017 for BUs SR and SY; 9/24/2015 through 3/7/2018 for BU S9) after the final file is sent to OSC, UCS must enter a salary change request through the Job Action Request page in Administration Pay Period 7L.
OSC Actions
OSC will upload the final file into PayServ on July 13, 2018.
Only new rows inserted by UCS onto the file will be loaded into PayServ. If the effective dated row on the file already exists on Job Data, the inserted row will be sequenced one greater than the highest sequence row previously existing in Job Data. If the effective dated row does not exist in Job Data, the inserted row will be Sequence 0.
Control-D Reports Available After Processing Rejected Upload Rows
If any new rows provided by UCS on the final file are rejected by the upload program, a list of the rejected rows will be sent to UCS for review.
The following Control-D report will be available for agency review after the automatic increases have been processed. All reports are sorted by Department ID, then by employee name in alphabetical order.
NHRP704 – Mass Salary Increase Report
This report identifies all employees who received a retroactive October 2014, April 2015, April 2016, and/or April 2017 Salary Increase. The report identifies all employee’s salaries that were increased in an eligible bargaining unit.
Automatic Retroactive Processing
OSC will automatically calculate retroactive adjustments for regular earnings and Time Entry earnings that are calculated by the system based on annual salary, such as OT at 1.5 (OTD) and Holiday Pay (HPA), resulting from payment of the October 2014, April 2015, April 2016 and/or April 2017 Salary Increases for employees in Bargaining Units SR, SY or S9.
If an employee receives a payment and has been paid in the same Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, all retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.
If an employee receives a payment and has been paid in more than one Employee Record Number since the effective date of the payment, the retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency of the Employee Record Number in which the payment was made.
Agency Action – Retroactive Processing
Reporting Retroactive Adjustments
Time Entry earnings codes that are submitted with an amount will not be adjusted automatically. Therefore, beginning in Administration Pay Period 8L, the agency must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as OT Override (OTO) and Regular Salary Override (RGO).
Correcting an Automatic Retroactive Adjustment
When certain conditions exist in an employee’s record, the automatic retroactive adjustment may be incorrect. Therefore, the agency is responsible for identifying employees who meet the following conditions and, if necessary, submitting the necessary adjustment.
- If an employee has a check returned or exchanged on an AC-230 for dates on or after the effective date of the payment, the payroll system does not consider the AC-230 when calculating the automatic retroactive adjustment.
- If earnings were previously reported using Earnings Code RGS and a date range that exceeded the number of days reported, the system will calculate the adjustment of earnings based on the number of workdays within the range.
- Adjustments for earnings that are calculated automatically, such as OT at 1.5 (OTD), will be calculated incorrectly if the dates previously reported as a single entry on the Time Entry page overlap the effective date of the payment. The system will calculate an adjustment for all earnings reported in a single entry based on the salary in effect on the Earnings End Date.
- For employees who had a change reported on the Job Data page since the effective date of the payment and the action resulted in an overpayment of earnings, the automatic negative retroactive adjustment may not have been processed because the overpayment was either not recoverable or was recovered using an overpayment earnings code or an AC-230. In this case, the negative retroactive adjustment may be re-generated when the payment is processed. OSC will turn off (not process) the automatic negative adjustment for these employees since in most cases these overpayments were either not recoverable or recovered using another method.
If an overpayment of earnings is identified after the automatic payment is processed but before the paycheck is received by the employee, the employee must be notified of the overpayment and the adjustment that will be reported in a subsequent pay period.
Submitting an Adjustment
To process a retroactive adjustment or correct an automatic retroactive adjustment, the agency must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the Earnings Code AJR.
| Earnings Begin Date: | The first date included in the adjustment |
| Earnings End Date: | The last date included in the adjustment |
| Earn Code: | AJR |
| Amount: | Amount to be adjusted |
| Comments: | An explanation of the adjustment |
Military Leave Stipend
OSC will recalculate the military stipend amount for employees who were placed on a Paid or Unpaid Military Stipend Leave on or after the first effective date of the payment as the result of new military orders.
- If the employee received a stipend, OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective the date the employee is entitled to the increase using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/MSC (Military Stipend Change) and will increase the employee’s biweekly stipend amount. In addition, updates will be made to all subsequent rows requiring an increased biweekly stipend amount.
- If the employee did not receive a stipend but becomes eligible for a stipend as a result of the payment, OSC will insert the following in PayServ.
- A row on the employee’s Job Data page effective the date the employee is entitled to a stipend using the Action/Reason code of Paid Leave of Absence/MLS (Mil Stip) and the new biweekly stipend amount.
- A row on the employee’s Job Data page for each affected subsequent row using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/MSC (Military Stipend Change) and the new biweekly stipend amount.
- A row on the Time Entry page using the Earnings Code MSP (Military Stipend Payment) to pay the stipend for each pay period the employee is eligible.
Any additional adjustment that is required due to the increased biweekly stipend amount that will not be calculated automatically will be reported by OSC on the Time Entry page using the Earnings Code AMS (Adjust Military Stipend).
Deduction Information
All general deductions for employees whose Payroll Status is Terminated, Retired or Deceased will be automatically cancelled by OSC with the exception of percentage based dues and agency shop fees and the following:
| Code | Description |
| 406 | Strike/Disciplinary Fine |
| 410 | Health Care Spending Account |
| 420 | NY Dependent Care Contribution |
| 425 | Repay State Loans/Debt |
| 426 | Higher Ed Repay State Loan |
| 428 | Dependent Care |
| 433 | Total Unemployment Ins Owed |
| 500 | Medicare Deficiency |
| 501 | Social Security Deficiency |
| 502 | NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency |
| GARNSH | Garnishments |
| HIATRG | Regular After Tax Health |
| HIATSP | Special After Tax Health Adj |
Tax Information
These monies are taxable income and are subject to all employment taxes and income taxes. These monies will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and will be reported on the employee’s Form W-2.
The adjustments (AJR, and Retro (RXX)) are supplemental taxable income and will be included in the employee’s taxable gross subject to all 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 (1.61135% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).
Please see Bulletin 1575 Supplemental Wages for more information.
Undeliverable Checks
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 Taxation and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 908.
Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P), original Death Certificate and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P). If a Next of Kin Affidavit has been previously submitted for a deceased employee’s payroll check, OSC will accept a photocopy of this form along with a new Report of Check Exchange.
Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice
All retroactive adjustments will be displayed on the Payroll Register using the appropriate Earnings Code with the amount paid and will be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description as well as the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Agencies should utilize Locked Query #49 to identify a complete list of regular earnings and retroactive adjustments if there are more than 13 earnings codes.
Questions
Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.
Questions regarding military information may be directed to the Military Stipend mailbox.
Questions regarding general deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.