Purpose: 

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform the Office of Court Administration of OSC’s automatic processing in 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 Comp Rate Code are affected.

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 and Justices have a Comp Rate Code of LEG which calculates an employee’s biweekly salary by dividing the annual salary by 26. Therefore, when a calendar year contains 27 pay periods, Judges and Justices are not eligible to receive the final paycheck in that calendar year.

Paychecks in Administration Pay Period 20C will be dated 12/31/2024 resulting in 27 paychecks in calendar year 2024. Since Judges and Justices will receive their full annual salary in Administration Pay Period 19C, paychecks dated 12/18/2024, each Judge and Justice must be placed on a Leave of Absence in Administration Pay Period 20C to prevent them from receiving more than their annual salary in calendar year 2024.

Effective Dates:

Administration Pay Period 20C, effective 12/19/2024, paychecks dated 12/31/2024.

Eligibility Criteria:

Employees who meet the following criteria will be placed on a Leave of Absence in Administration Pay Period 20C  to prevent the creation of the 12/31/2024 paycheck.

• Department = 05XX9
• Comp Rate Code = LEG
• Payroll Status on 12/19/2024 = 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 12/19/2024 and an Action/Reason code of Leave of Absence/L27 (LEG 27th Statutory Pause).

In addition, OSC will automatically insert an additional row with an Effective Date of 01/02/2025 and an Action/Reason code of Return From Leave/RLV (Rein Leave).

As a result, these employees will receive a paycheck dated 12/18/2024 and 01/15/2025 but will not receive a paycheck dated 12/31/2024.

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 01/15/2025, 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, 2024. Employees who became Active after January 1, 2024, will have their retirement service 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.