Purpose

To notify agencies of the new procedure for reporting a change in an employee's Benefit Flag when the employee's bargaining unit has been changed as a result of a change to the employee's Civil Service and OSC position record and the OSC Update Incumbent Process. This procedure applies to filled positions only.

Affected Employees

Employees whose Job Data record is automatically updated by OSC as a result of the Update Incumbent Process.

Effective Date

April 7, 2003

Background

The Department of Civil Service notifies OSC when there is a change to a classified position, such as a change in the title or grade level of the position, the bargaining unit, or the jurisdictional class. When notified, OSC automatically updates the position to reflect any changes and, if the position is filled, automatically updates the incumbent's Job Data record to reflect the changes in the position. This is referred to as the Update Incumbent Process.

In order to ensure that the employee's Job Data record is correct, the agency must review the Job Data panels of employees whose records have been updated through the Update Incumbent Process and resolve discrepancies, as appropriate. Refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 252 for additional information about this requirement. A public query (UG_00_Update_Incumbent) is available to assist agencies in identifying affected employees.

Currently, when an employee's bargaining unit has changed as a result of the Update Incumbent Process, the employee's Benefit Flag on the Job Data 2 panel is automatically updated to 9 (No Coverage), but is subsequently updated manually by OSC to reflect benefit coverage under the new bargaining unit.

Effective 4/07/03, when an employee's Job Data record is updated as a result of the Update Incumbent Process and the employee's bargaining unit changes, OSC will no longer update the Benefit Flag to reflect benefit coverage under the new bargaining unit. Rather, the Benefit Flag will remain as 9 (No Coverage).

Agency Actions

If the employee's bargaining unit has changed and the employee is eligible for and has elected benefit coverage under the new bargaining unit, the agency must report the appropriate Benefit Flag on the employee's Job Data panel using the Action/Reason of Data Chg/CBF (Change Benefit Flag). The effective date should be the date of the bargaining unit change or the date the employee elected benefit coverage, whichever is later.

If the agency is unable to insert a row on the employee's Job Data panel because there are Job Data row(s) with effective dates that are later than the effective date of the position change, the agency must request the Benefit Flag change on the Job Action Request panel using the Action/Reason of Data Chg/CBF. A separate request is required for each affected row on the employee's Job Data panel.

To ensure benefit coverage for the employee, the Benefit Flag must be changed in a timely manner. The agency should routinely run the public query, UG_00_Update_Incumbent, in order to identify affected employees.

Questions

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