Purpose
To explain agency requirements for reporting retroactive days of service and earnings to the retirement systems.
To ensure that payroll, personnel, fiscal, labor relations and legal services offices in state agencies are aware of the requirement to report service days and earnings to the retirement systems under certain circumstances.
Affected Employees
Employees who are members of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System (ERS) or the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) and meet one or more of the following conditions:
- Retroactively hired, rehired, or concurrently hired.
- Retroactively returned from leave without pay.
- Retroactively changed from leave without pay to sick leave at half pay.
- Received a back salary award or a settlement for pensionable earnings.
- Received retroactive Extra Time.
- Received earnings from a Regular Pay Override (RGO) transaction, e.g., certain newly hired part-time employees who did not start on the first day of the pay period and certain employees who changed percentage during the pay period.
Effective Date
Immediately
Background
The Bureau of State Payroll Services reports employee earnings, service days and contributions to the New York State and Local Retirement Systems (ERS and PFRS) for each pay period. The file submitted to the retirement systems includes all of the pensionable earnings received in the paycheck and up to 10 days of service credit for each pay period reported.
Contributions, earnings and service days are not reported to the retirement systems until a retirement record has been added to the employee's record on the payroll system.
When an employee receives retroactive earnings, the earnings are reported to the retirement system as one payment for the pay end date, even though the salary may have been earned over a period of several months. For example, when an agency submits a time entry transaction on the payroll system for retroactive earnings, such as Regular Pay Salary Employee (RGS) or Extra Time (EXT), all of the pensionable earnings are reported to the retirement systems for the pay end date.
Retroactive earnings and service days for Workers' Compensation Awards are reported to the retirement system when they are paid through the payroll system. However, for all other earnings, ten days is the maximum number of service days reported to the retirement systems by the Bureau of State Payroll Services for each pay end date. When an agency submits a time entry transaction on the payroll system for retroactive days, such as Regular Pay Salary Employee (RGS) and the days added to the current days add up to more than ten, the agency must submit an adjustment report for the retroactive days that exceed the ten day maximum.
In addition, service days are not currently reported to the retirement system for Regular Pay Override (RGO) transactions.
As a general rule of thumb, the agency should review retroactive Regular Pay Salary (RGS), retroactive Extra Time (EXT) and current Regular Pay Override (RGO) transactions entered in time entry to determine if an RS2050 Adjustment Report is needed.
Example: An employee who works part-time at 80% is hired, and the transaction is submitted after the payroll closing date for the pay period. The employee receives eight (8) days of regular earnings (RGS), and the agency enters eight (8) days Regular Pay Salary (RGS) through Time Entry for the retroactive earnings due from the previous pay period. All of the earnings and only 10 of the16 days of service credits are reported to the retirement system. An adjustment report must be submitted for 6 days of service credit.
An Adjustment Report (RS2050) and the Adjustment Report Label (RS2050-A) should be submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement Systems under the following circumstances:
- An employee is retroactively hired, rehired, or concurrently hired.
- An employee is retroactively returned from leave without pay.
- An employee is retroactively changed from leave without pay to sick leave at half pay.
- A back salary award or settlement is received for pensionable earnings through the grievance process, judicial proceedings or other means. (A copy of the legal document must be attached to the RS2050 form.)
- A part time employee receives retroactive Extra Time which results in more than 10 days of service credit for the pay period reported.
- An employee receives earnings from a Regular Pay Override (RGO) transaction. This may include certain newly hired part-time employees who did not start on the first day of the pay period and certain employees who changed percentage during the pay period.
Salary and Service Days are maintained by the Retirement Systems for the month in which the pay period end date falls. A maximum of ten days service credit can be credited per pay period.
The pay periods to be reported should reflect actual dates worked in the month. If there are two pay end dates in the month, the maximum number of days reported should be 20. If there are three pay end dates in the month for the employee, the maximum number of days reported should be 30. The retirement system will accept no more than 30 days in one month.
Instructions for Completing the RS2050 Form
Refer to the instructions on the back of the form.
- Enter the Employer Code assigned by the Retirement System, not your agency code.
- For the Report Period Month/Year column, report pay end dates, not check dates.
- Use the columns for "Days Adjustment" and "Salary Adjustments" to add to what has already been reported to NYSLRS by the payroll system.
- Use the columns for "Days For Period Should Be" and "Salary for Period Should Be" to show the correct days and salary for the month.
Mandatory Retirement Enrollments
Membership is mandatory for certain employees. If a retirement record is not added to the payroll system in time for the employee's first paycheck, the retirement system will advise the agency by memo to start arrears payments. Service days are automatically updated as the arrears payments are made, and it is not necessary to submit an Adjustment Report for these employees.
Optional Retirement Enrollments
Previous temporary service prior to enrollment should not be submitted on an Adjustment Report. Employees must submit a request to the Retirement System to be credited with service credit and earnings prior to enrollment in the retirement system.
Employment in More Than One Agency
If an employee holds jobs in two or more agencies, a retirement record needs to be added for each employment record number.
Agency Actions
- Read pages 87 through 93 of the Employer Guide of the New York State and Local Retirement Systems.
- Use the public queries to identify employees with retroactive earnings.
- On a bi-weekly basis, submit Adjustment Reports for affected employees.
- Advise your agency's personnel, labor relations, fiscal and legal services offices of these reporting requirements so they will provide timely notification to the payroll office for back salary awards, settlements, and other circumstances requiring adjustment reports.
- Issue new or revised agency procedures, if necessary, to implement these requirements.
Public Queries
Four public queries are available for agency use:
To identify retroactive RGS transactions for the pay periods not archived:
- UG_00_ERS_RGS_RETRO
To identify retroactive RGS transactions for archived pay periods:
- UG_00_ERS_RGS_RETRO_ARC
To identify retroactive EXT and RGO transactions for pay periods not archived:
- UG_00_ERS_RGO_EXT_RETRO
To identify retroactive EXT and RGO transactions for archived pay periods:
- UG_00_ERS_RGO_EXT_RETRO_ARC
Refer to Attachment A for additional information concerning these queries.
Questions
Contact the Retirement Systems' Reporting Services Section at 866-805-0990 or (518) 474-7736 for reporting instructions.
Questions regarding agency procedures for new employee membership enrollments in retirement systems and agency requirements for reporting retroactive earnings and service credits to the retirement systems may be directed to the Payroll Deductions mailbox.
Attachment - Queries for Retroactive Earnings
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