Purpose: 

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the April 2024 UCS Increments and Longevity Increments and provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees: 

Employees in the following bargaining units who meet the eligibility criteria may be eligible to receive the April 2024 Increment or Longevity Increment as indicated below:

Background: 

Pursuant to Article 2, Section 37.4(a) of the Judiciary Law and Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2023, which implemented the agreements between the Unified Court System of the State of New York and the affected bargaining units (Bargaining Units DR, F8, G9, SA, SD, SG, SK, SN, SR, SY, S9, 87, 86, 88 and CT), increments are to be processed for all eligible employees. Pursuant to Article 2, Section 37.3 of the Judiciary Law, longevity increments are to be processed for all eligible employees.

Consistent with the prior practice, when a CSEA Agreement is reached, the negotiated changes detailed in the Labor Relations Memorandum are extended to Management/Confidential and Unrepresented employees in Bargaining Units 86, 88 and CT.

In addition, employees must have completed the equivalent of twelve complete pay periods of service in their current grade during the fiscal year and have been rated at least “Satisfactory” to be eligible for an increment in April 2024. 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 and have been rated at least “Satisfactory” to be eligible for a longevity step payment in April 2024.

Effective Dates: 

The April 2024 UCS Increments and Longevity Increments will be paid using the following effective date and check date:

Eligibility Criteria:

Increment

Employees in graded positions (Grade 508-536) are eligible for the April 2024 UCS Increment provided the employee:

• Is in an eligible bargaining unit on the payment effective date: and
• Has a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay, or Leave of Absence due to a Workers’ Compensation Leave or an Unpaid Military Stipend Leave on 03/31/2024; and
• Has completed 120 full workdays between 04/01/2023 and 03/31/2024; and
• Has a Comp Rate Code of ANN on the payment effective date; and
• Received a performance rating of at least “Satisfactory” for service during the previous year.

Longevity Increment

Employees in graded positions (Grade 508-536) are eligible for the April 2024 UCS Longevity Increment provided the employee:

• Is in an eligible bargaining unit on the payment effective date; and
• Has a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay, or Leave of Absence due to a Workers’ Compensation Leave or an Unpaid Military Stipend Leave on 03/31/2024; 
  and
• Has completed four years in such grade at a salary equal to or greater than the Maximum Salary but less than Longevity Step 1 or four years in such grade at a salary equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2; and
• Has completed 120 full workdays in each fiscal year; and
• Has a Comp Rate Code of ANN on the payment effective date; and
• Received a performance rating of at least “Satisfactory” for service in each fiscal year.

Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

The following Control-D report will be available for agency use on 03/28/2024. This will give agencies time to correct employees’ records, if necessary, prior to the automatic processing of the April 2024 UCS Increment and Longevity Increment. The report will be sorted by Department ID, then by employee name in alphabetical order.

NHRP708 – Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

This report is a preliminary listing of employees who appear ineligible to receive the April 2024 UCS Increment, Longevity Increment, or Increment Code Update based on information available as of the date the report is produced. Included on the report is one or more of the following messages which identifies the reason(s) the employee’s record will not be updated:

• Position and Job do not match – if the Position Number equals the NYS Position Number on the employee’s Job Data page but the Bargaining Unit, Salary Administration Plan, or Grade on the Job Data page and the Position Data page are not equal
• FIS Missing – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 0004, 0006, or 0424 and the FIS Amount field is blank
• FIS At or Below Current – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 0004, 0006, or 0424 and the value in the FIS Amount field is less than or equal to the employee’s current salary
• FIS Below Hiring Rate – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 0004, 0006, or 0424 and the value in the FIS Amount field is less than the Hiring Rate for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• FIS Over Job Rate – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 0004 or 0006 and the value in the FIS Amount field is greater than the Maximum Salary for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• Current Salary < Longevity Step 1 – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 2016 or 0524 and the employee’s salary is less than Longevity Step 1 for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• Sal At or Above Longevity Step 1 – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 2020 and the employee’s salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• Sal At or Above Longevity Step 2 – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 2016 or 0524 and the employee’s salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 2 for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• Increment Code Missing – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is blank or ‘0000’
• Increment Code Invalid – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is other than 0001, 0003, 0004, 0006, 19XX, 20XX, 04XX, or 05XX
• Sal Below Hiring Rate – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 0001 or 0003 and the employee’s salary is less than the Hiring Rate for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• Sal Below Job Rate – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 2020 and the employee’s salary is less than the Maximum Salary for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule
• Sal At or Above Job Rate – if the increment code on the employee’s Job Data page is 0001 or 0003 and the employee’s salary is equal to or greater than the Maximum Salary for the employee’s grade on the appropriate Salary Schedule

If an employee appears on this report but is due an increment, longevity increment, or increment code update, the agency must submit the appropriate transaction(s) on the Job Action Requests page to correct the information on the Job Data row(s). If the row(s) is corrected prior to Administration Pay Period 1, the automatic increment, longevity increment, or increment code update will be processed.

Agency Actions: 

The following procedures must be used by the agency when submitting transactions in Administration Pay Period 1L:

For pay changes, position changes and transfers requested on the Job Action Requests or Transfer Requests page with an effective date before 03/28/2024:

• The agency must not include the increment or longevity increment in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
• The agency must report the proper increment code for April 2023 in the Incr. Code field.

For pay changes, position changes and transfers requested on the Job Action Requests or Transfer Requests page with an effective date on 03/28/2024:

• No automatic processing will be done by OSC provided the agency reports Increment Code 5555. 
• The agency must include, if applicable, the increment or longevity increment in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.

For pay changes, position changes and transfers requested on the Job Action Requests or Transfer Requests page with an effective date after 03/28/2024:

• The agency must include, if applicable, the increment or longevity increment in the salary reported in the Pay Rate field.
• The agency must report the projected increment code for April 2024 in the Incr. Code field

Ineligible for Increment or Longevity Increment

Employees with an “Unsatisfactory” evaluation on their last rating date are ineligible to receive the April 2024 UCS Increment or Longevity Increment. The agency must submit a Data Chg on the Job Action Requests page effective 03/28/2024 using the Reason code USP (Unsat Perf) and an increment code of 0003 in the Incr. Code field to withhold the increment or longevity increment.

OSC Actions:

OSC will process the April 2024 UCS Increments, Longevity Increments and Increment Code Updates for those employees who meet the eligibility criteria and have a Payroll Status of Active, Leave With Pay or Leave of Absence due to a Workers’ Compensation Leave (Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/WDL) on the payment effective date.

In addition, OSC will update all subsequent rows on the Job Data page, except as noted above, in which the employee remains in an eligible bargaining unit regardless of Payroll Status. A row will be inserted with the same effective date as the row being evaluated using the Action/Reason code Pay Rate Change/CSL (Correct Salary).

Increment Processing

Increments will be processed for eligible employees with one of the following increment codes on the payment effective date:

• Increment Code 0001:  If the employee’s annual salary is equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate but less than the Maximum Salary of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/INC (Increment) and will increase the employee’s salary to reflect payment of the increment. The employee’s salary will be capped at the Maximum Salary of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule.
• Increment Code 0004:  If the FIS Amount is greater than the employee’s salary on the payment effective date, and equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate but less than or equal to the Maximum Salary of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/CSL (Correct Salary) and will increase the employee’s salary to reflect payment of a partial increment to the Maximum Salary based on the FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary) Amount.
• Increment Code 0006:  If the FIS Amount is greater than the employee’s salary on the payment effective date, equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate but less than or equal to the Maximum Salary of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/INC (Increment) and will increase the employee’s salary to reflect payment of a partial increment based on the FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary) Amount.
• Increment Code 0424:  If the FIS Amount is greater than the employee’s salary on the payment effective date and equal to or greater than the Hiring Rate of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/379 (Jud Law 37.9) and will increase the employee’s salary to reflect the FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary) Amount. The FIS Amount may exceed the Maximum Salary.

Longevity Increment Processing

• Increment Code 2020:  If the employee’s annual salary is equal to or greater than the Maximum Salary but less than Longevity Step 1 of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/LGP (Longevity Pay) and will increase the employee’s salary to Longevity Step 1.
• Increment Code 2016:  If the employee’s annual salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2 of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/LGP (Longevity Pay) and will increase the employee’s salary to Longevity Step 2.
• Increment Code 0524:  If the employee’s annual salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2 of the employee’s grade on the payment effective date based on the appropriate Salary Schedule, OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rate Change/373 (Jud Law 37.3) and will increase the employee’s salary to Longevity Step 2.

Increment Code Update Processing

OSC will automatically update the increment code, as appropriate, on the inserted row for employees who receive an increment or longevity increment as follows:

OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page effective 03/28/2024 using the Action/Reason code of Data Chg/CIC (Chg IncCd/or AnnDt/or FIS Sal) and update the following increment code:

Control-D Reports Available After Processing:

The following Control-D reports 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.

NHRP704 – Mass Increment Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the automatic April 2024 UCS Increment or Longevity Increment and includes the Action/Reason code used as well as the old compensation rate and new compensation rate.

NHRP708 – Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

This report identifies employees who did not receive the automatic April 2024 UCS Increment, Longevity Increment, or Increment Code Update. Included on the report is one or more of the following messages which identifies the reason(s) the employee’s record was not updated.

• Position and Job do not match
• FIS Missing
• FIS At or Below Current
• FIS Below Hiring Rate
• Increment Code Missing
• Increment Code Invalid
• Inc Code Req Review
• Inc Code not in Anniv Dt range
• Sal Below Hiring Rate
• Sal At or Above Job Rate

See Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing for an explanation of these messages.

Agency Actions Beginning Pay Period 2:

Beginning in Administration Pay Period 2L, agencies must submit transactions to make the April 2024 UCS Increment, Longevity Increment, and/or Increment Code update to eligible employees who were not processed automatically.

Increments and Longevity Increments

Agencies must submit a Pay Change on the Job Action Requests page using the appropriate Reason code for eligible employees who return from a Leave of Absence (except a Workers’ Compensation Leave) and for employees who are eligible for an increase but were not processed as a result of an error as identified on the NHRP708 – Mass Increment Payment Exception Report.

Agency Update of Increment Codes

Agencies must submit a Data Chg on the Job Action Requests page using the Reason code CIC (Chg IncCd/or AddDt/ or FIS Sal) and update the following increment codes:

If the employee’s increment code is 0001 after being automatically updated from Increment Code 0003 (the result of an “Unsatisfactory” evaluation), the agency must review and update the increment code accordingly.

Questions:

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Earnings mailbox.