State Agencies Bulletin No. 824

Subject
April 2008 Public Employees Federation (PEF) Longevity Lump Sum (LLS) Payment for Eligible Employees with Increment Codes of 1998, 2003 or 0210
Date Issued
June 11, 2008

Purpose

To inform agencies of OSC's automatic processing of the LLS payment and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Longevity-eligible employees in BU05 with an Increment Code of 1998, 2003 or 0210

Effective Date(s)

Payments will be processed in a separate check dated July 3, 2008 (Institution) and July 9, 2008 (Administration). There will be no direct deposit for this payment.

Background

Due to the expiration of the previous contract, Longevity Lump Sum payments were not paid in April 2008 to PEF employees who became eligible for a five (5) or ten (10) year payment for the first time on or after March 31, 2008. Pending passage of Pay Bill # A11439 which will implement the new 2007-2011 Agreement between the State of New York and the Public Employees Federation (PEF), these employees now will be eligible to receive the 2008 Longevity Lump Sum (LLS) payment.

The above check dates are contingent upon the Pay Bill becoming law by the time the necessary program is scheduled to run on June 19, 2008. If the Pay Bill is not law by the time the program needs to be run, the payments will be postponed until passage of the Pay Bill.

Agencies will be notified if the payment dates are postponed.

Please refer to Payroll Bulletin No. 796 for further information regarding LLS payments.

Eligibility - PEF Employees

Employees in graded positions (Grades 001-037) and NS (Grade 600) positions which are equated to grade are eligible for the payment provided the employee:

  • Is on the payroll on March 31, 2008 (Active, Paid Leave of Absence or on Workers' Compensation or Military Leave), in a BU05 position; and
  • As of March 31, 2008, has five (5) or more or ten (10) or more years of continuous service* at an annual salary equal to or greater than the Job Rate of the employee’s current grade; and
  • Did not receive an "Unsatisfactory" evaluation during the rating period January 1 to December 31, 2007. Employees who were not rated during this period will receive the payment.

*Continuous service, as used in determining eligibility for the LLS payment, is paid service (including part-time annual-salaried service, paid Military Leave and Sick Leave at Half Pay) or time on Workers' Compensation Leave or Military Leave without Pay.

OSC Actions - Automatic Processing

For employees with an Increment Code of 2003 or 0210

OSC will automatically insert a row on the employee’s Additional Pay page to make the payment using the Earnings Code LLS provided the employee did not already receive a 2008 LLS payment. The payment amount is $1,250 or a prorated amount, as described below:

  • Employees who are full-time on March 31, 2008 or full-time employees who are on a Paid Leave of Absence, Workers‘ Compensation or Military Leave or on a Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule (VRWS) receive the full payment amount.
    Note: For employees on the Voluntary Reduction in Work Schedule program, the agency must verify that the Full/Part Time Indicator on the Job Data/Job Information page is "Voluntary." If the indicator is not “Voluntary,” the agency must submit a Job Action Request using the Action/Reason code of DTA/VRW and change the Indicator to “Voluntary.”
  • Employees who are part-time on March 31, 2008 receive a prorated payment based on the employee’s part-time percentage on March 31, 2008.
  • Part-time employees who are on a Paid Leave of Absence, Workers' Compensation Leave or Military Leave on March 31, 2008 receive a prorated payment amount based on the employee’s regular part-time percentage prior to the leave.

The Additional Pay page will be populated for eligible employees with the following:

Earnings Code: LLS
Effective Date: 4/1/08
OT Effective Date: 4/1/08
Annual Additional Earnings: Payment amount
Earns End Date: 3/31/09
For employees with an Increment Code of 1998

If a 2008 LLS row already exists on the employee’s Additional Pay page and the amount in the Annual Additional Earnings field is less than or equal to $1,250, OSC will automatically double the earnings amount. The payroll system will automatically pay the difference between the new Annual Additional Earnings and the existing Goal Balance.

The existing Additional Pay page will be updated for eligible employees with the following:

Earnings Code: LLS
Effective Date: Existing Effective Date
OT Effective Date: Existing OT Effective Date
Annual Additional Earnings: Full Payment amount
Earns End Date: Existing End Date

OSC Actions - Post Payment

After processing this payment, OSC will review the salaries of affected employees who were promoted on or after April 1, 2008 to determine if a salary correction is needed.

Agency Actions - Payments to Employees Not Paid Automatically

After the automatic payment has been processed, agencies must enter the following information into the Additional Pay page to pay an eligible employee who has not received a 2008 LLS payment.

Earnings Code: LLS
Effective Date: Enter eligibility date
OT Effective Date: Same as Effective Date
Annual Additional Earnings: Payment amount
Earns End Date: 3/31/09 or date eligibility ends
Goal Balance: Leave blank

Agency Actions - Corrections to Existing Payments

After the automatic payment has been processed, agencies must submit one of the following transactions to correct an existing 2008 LLS payment:

To Decrease the Existing 2008 LLS Payment Amount

If an employee received a 2008 LLS payment in excess of the eligible amount, agencies must submit a Job Action Request using the Action/Reason code of DTA/COR (Data Change/Correct History) and include the effective date and correct earnings amount in the Status Reason section.

To Increase the Existing 2008 LLS Payment Amount

If an employee received a 2008 LLS payment less than the eligible amount, agencies must enter the following information into the Additional Pay page. The system will automatically pay the difference between the new Annual Additional Earnings and the existing Goal Balance.

Earnings Code: LLS
Effective Date: 4/2/08
OT Effective Date: 4/1/08
Annual Additional Earnings: Correct full Payment amount
Earns End Date 03/31/09 or date eligibility ends
Goal Balance: Amount already paid

To Correct an Increment Code

If the employee did not receive an automatic LLS payment or the payment amount was incorrect because the Increment Code was incorrect, the agency must, in addition to submitting the LLS payment, submit a Job Action Request using the Action/Reason code of DTA/CIC (Data Change/Correct Increment Code). The appropriate increment code must be entered in the Increment Code field.

Control-D Reports and Preparation for Payment

Prior to the automatic processing, the following report is available:

NPAY756 PS&T Longevity Eligibility Listing

This reportis a preliminary listing of employees eligible for the five (5) year LLS payment as of March 31, 2008.

Agencies should review this listing carefully, paying particular attention to employees who are ineligible due to an “Unsatisfactory” evaluation between January 1 and December 31, 2007.

Corrections to the preliminary listing should be submitted on the Correction Sheet. (The form may be duplicated if additional copies are needed.) This form must be used to:

  • Add employees who do not appear on the listing, such as:
    • Eligible employees in NS positions where the equated grade does not appear on the Position Data page. Agencies must submit documentation of the salary equation with the Correction Sheet.
    • Eligible employees who are in composite positions (identified by Increment Code 2222).
    • Eligible employees who received a downward reallocation (identified by Increment Code 0069).
  • Delete employees who should not appear on the listing.
  • Change incorrect information pertaining to an employee appearing on the listing.

Corrections should be submitted as soon as possible and must be received no later than June 16, 2008. Please fax corrections to (518) 474-2601 or (518) 402-4949 and send an email to [email protected] including the Department ID in the Subject line to inform the Salary Determination Unit that a correction has been faxed.

After the automatic processing is completed, the following report will be available:

NPAY770 One Time Payment Report

This report identifies all employees who received the automatic five (5) year LLS payment.

Deduction Information

Deductions will be taken for Federal, State, New York City and Yonkers City taxes, Social Security/Medicare, retirement normal contributions, garnishments and Federal levies. There will be no special tax calculations. For employees receiving the payment who have an additional tax amount in their record, the additional tax also will be included in the tax calculation for this payment.

Overtime and Retirement Information

The LLS is a one-time, lump sum payment that is included as salary for retirement purposes and in the calculation of overtime compensation (refer to Overtime Compensation, Part III, Page 1 of the OSC Salary Manual). The 2008 Longevity Lump Sum payment is included in the calculation of overtime earned from April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009 for all agencies.

Undeliverable Checks

Inactive employees may be eligible for a payment as a result of the adjustments. If the agency has made an effort to deliver the check to the employee but the check has been returned and is undeliverable, the agency should forward the check to the NYS Department of Tax and Finance, Division of Treasury, per instructions in Payroll Bulletin No. 456.

Checks issued to eligible employees who are now deceased should be returned with a completed Next of Kin Affidavit (Form AC 934-P) and a Report of Check Exchange (Form AC 1476-P).

For recipients of a previously deceased employee's payroll checks where a Next of Kin Affidavit and Report of Check Exchange forms have been submitted, OSC will accept a photocopy of these forms to process the exchange of the check.

Payroll Register and Employee Paycheck/Advice

The Earnings Code LLS and the amount will be displayed on the payroll register. The earnings description, PS&T Longevity LSP, and the amount will be printed on the employee’s paycheck.

This payment will be made in a separate check regardless of when paid. There will be no direct deposit for this payment. The separate check will be issued along with the employee’s regular paycheck or direct deposit advice for the check date submitted.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Salary Determination mailbox.