Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to explain OSC’s automatic processing of the April 2022 Unified Court System (UCS) Retroactive Judicial Longevity Bonus (JLO) Increase.

Affected Employees

Employees in the following Bargaining Units:  F8, G9, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, DR, S9, SR or SY who met the eligibility criteria on 04/01/2022 and received the 2022 Longevity Bonus are affected.

Annual employees in Bargaining Units 86, 88, or CT, who are in salary grade 560, who met the eligibility criteria on 04/01/2022 and received the 2022 Longevity Bonus are also affected.

Background

Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2023, which implements the 2021-2026 agreements between the Unified Court System of the State of New York (UCS) and Bargaining Units F8, G9, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, DR, S9, SR, and SY provides for a retroactive increase in Judicial Longevity Bonus payments (Earnings Code JLO) effective April 1, 2022, for all eligible members. Unrepresented employees who received a Judicial Longevity Bonus payment effective April 1, 2022, are also eligible for the retroactive increase.

Effective Dates

The April 2022 Judicial Longevity Bonus Retroactive Increase (Earnings Code JLO) will be paid using the following effective date and check date.

Year	Pay Cycle/Pay Period Type	Payment Effective Date	Check Date
2022	Administration 25 Lag	03/31/2022	03/29/2023

Eligibility Criteria

All employees in an eligible bargaining unit who met the eligibility criteria for and received the April 2022 Judicial Longevity Bonus payment are eligible for the April 2022 Retroactive Judicial Longevity Bonus Increase. See Payroll Bulletin UCS-306 for the April 2022 Judicial Longevity Bonus eligibility criteria.

OSC Actions

OSC will process the April 2022 Judicial Longevity Bonus Retroactive Increase for those employees who meet the eligibility criteria by increasing the Annual Addl Earnings amount to the new earnings amount and pay the difference between the new Annual Additional Earnings and the existing Goal Balance as shown below.

Earnings Code:	JLO
Effective Date:	Same as JLO row effective 03/31/22 or later
OT Eff Date:	Same as Effective Date
Annual Addl Earnings:	See Payment Amount below
End Date:	03/29/2023

Payment Amount

Employees who have already received an April 2022 Judicial Longevity Bonus payment (Earnings Code JLO) will receive the new amount below.

Years of Service	Anniversary Dates	Prior Payment Amount	New Payment Amount
20 – 24 years	04/01/1997 through 03/31/2002	$2,100	$2,200
25 – 29 years	04/01/1992 through 03/31/1997	$2,200	$2,300
30 or more years	03/31/1992 and earlier	$2,300	$2,400

Employees who receive the Judicial Longevity Bonus Payment Increase will receive the amount based on the employee’s years of service and percentage in effect on 04/01/2022.

Employees who met the eligibility criteria for the April 2022 Judicial Longevity Bonus payment but do not have an existing Earnings Code JLO row effective 03/31/2022 or later, on their Additional Pay page will not receive the retroactive increase.

Automatic Retroactive Processing

OSC will automatically calculate adjustments resulting from the retroactive Judicial Longevity Bonus (Earnings Code JLO) increases. The adjustment will be paid using Earnings Code JLO.

For eligible employees who have worked in more than one agency since the effective date of the Judicial Longevity Bonus increase, the retroactive adjustments will be paid in the most current agency.

Retroactive Adjustments for Additional Pay and Time Entry Earnings

Time Entry earnings codes that are calculated based on an employee’s additional salary factors such as overtime Earnings Code (OTD) will be automatically adjusted.

Control-D Report Available After Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review after the payments have been processed.  All reports will be sorted by Department ID, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NPAY770 – One Time Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the April 2022 Retroactive Judicial Longevity Bonus (earnings code JLO) Increase.

Agency Actions – 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 26L, the agency must report the adjustment amount for earnings codes such as OT Override (OTO) and Regular Pay 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

When an adjustment is needed for non-COVID-19 related overtime or recall such as OTT, Earnings Code ARO must be entered. Please refer to Payroll Bulletin 1893 for more information. Agencies must continue to use Earnings Code AJR for all other override Time Entry Earnings Codes requiring a manual adjustment as a result of a retroactive salary increase.

To process a retroactive adjustment or correct an automatic retroactive adjustment, agencies must submit the following information on the Time Entry page or the Time Entry Interface (NPAY502) using the Earnings Codes AJR and/or ARO:

Earnings Begin Date:	The first date included in the adjustment
Earnings End Date:	The last date included in the adjustment
Earnings Code:	AJR or ARO
Amount:	Amount to be adjusted
Comments:	An explanation of the adjustment

Miscellaneous Payment Information

The April 2022 Retroactive Judicial Longevity Bonus Increase (Earnings Code JLO) is included in the calculation of overtime and is pensionable.

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/Discip Fine
410	Health Care Spending Account
416	Deferred Comp
420	NY Dependent Care Contribution
425	Repay State Loans/Debt
426	Higher Ed Repay State Loan
428	Dependent Care
433	Total Unemployment Ins Owed
442	Pre-Tax Adoption
500	Medicare Deficiency
501	Social Security Deficiency
502	NYS SS/Medicare Deficiency
682	VDC Before Tax Arrears
685	VDC Suspense Before Tax Arrear
GARNSH	Garnishments
HIATRG	Regular After Tax Health
HIATSP	Special After Tax Health Adj

Tax Information

These monies are taxable income subject to all employment taxes and income taxes, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and reported on the employee’s Form W-2.

The adjustments (AJR, ARO, 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 (1.95975% for Yonkers residents and 0.50% for Yonkers non-residents).

Special Wage Payments for Individuals Who Filed for Retirement Social Security Benefits

Per Internal Revenue Service Publication 957, OSC will be reporting retro payments made to individuals who have filed for Social Security benefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

As PayServ does not include this information, OSC will be mailing a Request for Special Wage Payment Report to inactive individuals who are 62 or older in the calendar year and to active employees with the New York Retiree Indicator checked in Modify a Person who receive the retroactive payment. Recipients of this mailing will be asked to fill out the request and return it to OSC for inclusion on the Special Wage Payment report to SSA. This report will be submitted to SSA after the close of the 2023 tax year.

It is important that agencies ensure the New York Retiree Indicator box is checked for rehired retirees. Please see Payroll Bulletin No. 1728 for further details on the New York Retiree Indicator box.

Undeliverable Checks

When a valid payroll check is undeliverable due to the agency’s inability to locate the employee, the agency should follow the Agency Actions identified in Payroll Bulletin No. 1786.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be submitted as a stop payment request with a reason of Exchange in PayServ. The required AC 1476, Next of Kin Affidavit, and original death certificate should be submitted to the Payroll Reversal and Exchange mailbox at the same time as the stop payment request. 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 and the amount paid and will be displayed on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice using the appropriate Earnings Description and the amount paid unless the number of earnings codes exceeds 13. Agencies should utilize Locked Query LQ_PCD_PAYCHECK_EARNINGS_BY_ID 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 retirement may be directed to the Payroll Retirement mailbox.

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

Questions regarding deductions may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.