Purpose:

The purpose of this bulletin is to inform agencies of OSC’s automatic processing of the 2024 Year End Adjustments for Judges and Justices of the Unified Court System, and to provide instructions for reporting transactions in Administration Pay Period 19C.

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 New York State 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 or Justice 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 or Justices 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 or Justices who serve the entire calendar year or a portion of the calendar year at more than one salary.

To ensure that Judges and Justices 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.

Effective Dates:

The adjustments will be paid in Administration Pay Period 19C, paychecks dated 12/18/2024.

Eligibility Criteria:

Judges and Justices 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 or Justice’s statutory salary is not evenly divisible by 26 pay periods.

Judges and Justices who are active on 12/31/2024 and serve the entire calendar year at more than one salary, and Judges and Justices who serve only part of the year at one or more 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 or Justice’s prorated statutory or composite statutory salary, whichever is applicable.

OSC Actions:

Exception Listings and Control-D Report Available Prior to Processing

Exception listings and a Control-D report will be available for agency review on 11/29/2024 (after Administration Pay Period 18C, paychecks dated 12/04/2024 are confirmed).

Exception Listings

Exception listings identify Judges or Justices 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. A summary of the results of these listings will be emailed to the Office of Court Administration.

• Judges or Justices who have an OVP or Q06-Q24, QC0 or QC1 balance for calendar year 2024
• Employees who transferred into a judicial position with a Comp Rate Code of LEG on 12/22/2023 or later
• Judges or Justices who were returned to the payroll using the Action Rehire or Return from Leave on 12/22/2023 or later
• Judges or Justices who have RGS earnings paid in calendar year 2024 but earned in a previous year.

Control-D Report NPAY586

The Control-D report Comp Rate Code LEG Year End Adjustments identifies Judges or Justices 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:

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

1. Determine the amount of salary entitlement for calendar year 2024 using the statutory, prorated statutory, or composite statutory salary calculation provided in Statutory Salary Calculation.
2. Total all monies the Judge or Justice earned and was paid in calendar year 2024 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 Administration Pay Period 19C.
3. Subtract the total earnings in Step #2 from the Judge or Justice’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.

Removal of Judges and Justices:

Judges or Justices Removed from the Payroll in Administration Pay Period 19C

If a Judge or Justice does not serve through 12/31/2024 and the removal transaction is effective and reported in Administration Pay Period 19C, the year-end adjustment will not be automatically calculated. The Judge or Justice’s paycheck for Administration Pay Period 19C must be calculated as follows:

1. Determine the amount of salary entitlement for calendar year 2024 using the statutory, prorated statutory, or composite statutory salary calculation provided in Statutory Salary Calculation.
2. Total all monies the Judge or Justice earned and was paid in calendar year 2024 using Earnings Codes RGS, RGO, RRS, and ADJ. Do not 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 or Justice’s statutory salary determined in Step #1.
4. The difference from Step #3 must be submitted on the Time Entry page using Earnings Code RGO (Regular Pay Override) with the following information:

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

Judges and Justices Removed from the Payroll Effective in Administration Pay Period 20C but on or before 12/31/2024

If a Judge or Justice does not serve through 12/31/2024 and the removal transaction is effective in Administration Pay Period 20C but on or before 12/31/2024, the agency must report the removal transaction in Administration Pay Period 19C, using an effective date of 12/19/2024. The Judge or Justice’s year end adjustment must be reported using Earnings Code JYA and must be calculated using the methodology outlined in Agency Actions in Pay Period 19C.

Judges and Justices Whose Term Ends 12/31/2024

Agencies must not submit transactions to remove a Judge or Justice whose term will be ending on 12/31/2024 and will not serve in calendar year 2025 in Administration Pay Period 19C. These transactions should be submitted in Administration Pay Period 20C after paychecks dated 12/18/2024 have been confirmed on 12/12/2024. Since Judges and Justices will receive their statutory salary in paychecks dated 12/18/2024, the effective date of the termination must be 01/02/2025.

Automatic OSC Processing:

OSC will automatically calculate the year end adjustment for Judges or Justices who meet the following criteria and who do not appear on any of the exception listings:

• Judges or Justices who have a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on 12/21/2023 and who do not have a status change or change in salary through 12/31/2024.
• Judges or Justices who are newly appointed using the Action Hire or Concurrent Hire with a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on or after 12/21/2023 and who do not have a status change or change in salary through 12/31/2024.
• Judges or Justices who have a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on and who do not have a status change through 12/31/2024 but who do have a change in salary.
• Judges or Justices who are newly appointed using the Action Hire or Concurrent Hire with a Comp Rate Code of LEG and a Payroll Status of Active or Leave With Pay on or after 12/21/2023 and who do not have a status change through 12/31/2024, but who do have a change in salary.

Statutory Salary Calculation

The Judge or Justice’s salary entitlement will be determined using one of the following methods:

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

1. Use the Judge or Justice’s annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page as the Judge or Justice’s statutory salary.

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

1. Determine the number of calendar days the Judge or Justice served between each effective dated row beginning with 01/01/2024 through 12/31/2024 (regardless of whether the row represents a salary change).
2. Divide the number of days served between each effective dated row determined in Step #1 by 366 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
3. Multiply the result from Step #2 by the Judge or Justice’s annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page for that period and round to two (2) decimal places.
4. Add each result from Step #3 to determine the Judge or Justice’s prorated statutory salary.

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

1. Determine the number of calendar days the Judge or Justice served between each effective dated row beginning with 01/01/2024 through 12/31/2024 (regardless of whether the row represents a salary change).
2. Divide the number of days served between each effective dated row determined in Step #1 by 366 and round to seven (7) decimal places.
3. Multiply each result from Step #2 by the Judge or Justice’s annual salary on the Compensation tab on the Job Data page for that period and round to two (2) decimal places.
4. Add each result from Step #3 to determine the Judge or Justice’s composite statutory salary

Automatic Year End Adjustment Calculation:

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

1. Total all monies the Judge or Justice earned and was paid in calendar year 2024 (12/21/2023 through 12/04/2024) using Earnings Code RGS, RGO, RRS, and ADJ.
2. Subtract the total earnings calculated in Step #1 from the Judge or Justice’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 Reports Available After Processing:

The following Control-D report will be available for agency review on 12/12/2024, after the year end adjustment has been processed:

NPAY586 – Comp Rate Code LEG Year End Adjustments

This report identifies all Judges or Justices who automatically received a year end adjustment in Administration Pay Period 19C, paycheck dated 12/18/2024.

Overtime and Retirement Information:

These monies are pensionable but are not included in the calculation of overtime.

Tax Information:

These monies are taxable income, will be included in the employee’s taxable gross and are subject to all employment taxes and income taxes.

Payroll Register and Employee’s Paycheck/Advice:

Earnings Code RGS and the amount paid will be displayed on the Payroll Register. Earnings Description Regular Pay Salary Employee and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

In addition, if applicable, Earnings Code JYA and the amount paid will be displayed on the Payroll Register. Earnings Description Judges Year End Adjustment and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

If Earnings Code RGO is reported, this earnings code will replace Earnings Code RGS and will be displayed on the Payroll Register with the amount paid. Earnings Description Regular Pay Override and the amount paid will appear on the employee’s paycheck stub or direct deposit advice.

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 – Non-Negotiated and/or Undeliverable New York State Payroll Checks.

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 Report of Check Exchange (AC 1476-P), Next of Kin Affidavit (AC 934-P) and original death certificate should be submitted to the Payroll Reversal and Exchange mailbox at the same time as the stop payment request. If ahttps://www.osc.ny.gov/files/state-agencies/payroll/pdf/ac934p-fillable.pdf 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.

Questions

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