State Agencies Bulletin No. 1399

Subject
Leap Year Salary Calculation for Fiscal Year 2015 - 2016
Date Issued
April 1, 2015

Purpose

To explain OSC and agency procedures for the use of the Leap Year Salary Calculation.

Affected Employees

All employees in Pay Basis Code ANN and CAL (except employees in SUNY Grade 980)

Background

In any fiscal year in which February 29th falls, the biweekly salary calculation is changed to calculate the biweekly payment based on 366 days in that fiscal year. Since this fiscal year beginning 04/01/15 and ending 03/31/16 will include the extra day in February, the salary calculation will be changed to reflect the new calculation.

The Leap Year Salary Calculation change is effective 03/26/15 for Administration and 04/02/15 for Institution agencies.

Effective Date(s)

Administration Pay Period 1C, pay checks dated 04/08/15 and Pay Period 1L, pay checks dated 04/22/15

Institution Pay Period 1C, pay checks dated 04/16/15 and Pay Period 1L, pay checks dated 4/30/15

OSC Actions

Job Data

After payroll processing is complete for Pay Period 1, OSC will insert a row on the Job Data page effective 03/26/15 (Administration) and 04/02/15 (Institution) to change the salary calculation on Compensation for affected records which do not have an existing row on the Job Data page with an effective date of 03/26/15 (Administration) or 04/02/15 (Institution). The Action/Reason code of PAY/FAC(Factor Change) will be used.

Additional Pay

After payroll processing is complete for Pay Period 1, OSC will insert a row effective 03/26/15 (Administration) and 04/02/15 (Institution) on the Additional Pay page to change to the leap year salary calculation for all annual derived biweekly earnings, such as LOC and IPF, provided no row already exists.

Time Entry

OSC will change the calculation on all miscellaneous earnings to reflect the leap year factor for all earnings that are based on the annual factors.

Agency Actions

Job Data

Any Rows inserted on the Job Data page will reflect the correct salary calculation based on the effective date.

After the leap year calculation has been updated, if a transaction is submitted with an effective date retroactively placing an employee on the payroll (Hire, Rehire, Reinstatement from Leave Without Pay) prior to the change, the agency must submit a row if none exists for 03/26/15 (Administration) or 04/02/15 (Institution) using the Action/Reason code of PAY/FAC, in addition to the original row.

Additional Pay

Any Rows inserted on the Additional Pay page will reflect the appropriate salary calculation based on the effective date.

After the Leap Year Calculation has been updated, if a transaction is submitted retroactively placing an employee on an Annual Earnings such as LOC, etc…, with an effective date prior to the change, the agency must submit a row if none exists for 03/26/15 (Administration) or 04/02/15 (Institution) on the Additional Pay page in addition to the original effective dated row.

Time Entry

Agencies must submit any Time Entry transactions split by Pay Period effective dates. RGS and other override codes must be submitted using the appropriate calculation based on the effective dates of the transaction.

Additional Information Regarding the Leap Year Calculation

For Fiscal Year 2015-2016, the leap year factor .038251, will be used to calculate the amount that will appear in the Compensation Rate Field on Job. The factor will also be used to calculate any derived bi-weekly Additional Pay amounts.

The agency must also use this factor to calculate:

  • The amount of adjustment earnings reported in the Additional Pay page for earn codes such as ALP (Adjust Location Pay).
  • Miscellaneous earnings reported in the Time Entry page with an amount that is calculated based on an employee’s biweekly rate of pay (ex: RGS, RGO).

Questions

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