Unified Court System Bulletin No. UCS-133

Subject
April 2008 Service Increments, Longevity Pay and Longevity Bonus for Employees of the Unified Court System (UCS)
Date Issued
February 27, 2008

Purpose

To explain OSC’s automatic processing and to provide instructions for payments not processed automatically.

Affected Employees

Eligible graded salaried employees in the following bargaining units: SR, SY, SN, SG, S9, SA, SD, G9, DR, F8, SK, 86, 87, 88 and CT

Effective Date(s)

Effective 4/3/08, paychecks dated 4/30/08, Pay Period 1L

Background

Certain UCS employees are eligible to receive Increments and Longevity Payments pursuant to Article 2, Section 37 of Judiciary Law and implementation legislation for collective bargaining agreements.

Eligibility Criteria

Employees must have been on the payroll for 120 full work days from 4/1/07 through 3/31/08.

The Longevity Bonus (JLO) amount is $1,750 for employees who have at least twenty (20) years and $1,850 for employees who have at least twenty-five (25) years of continuous service in UCS.

OSC Actions

After payroll processing is completed for Pay Period 1L, OSC will process Increments and Longevity Payments for eligible employees whose status is Active, on Paid Leave of Absence (except those on Military Stipend) or Workers’ Compensation Leave (WDL) effective 4/3/08 except as noted below.

Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers effective on 4/3/08 with the Increment Code 5555 will not be automatically updated by OSC.

OSC will update all subsequent Job Data rows in which the employee is in an eligible bargaining unit regardless of status using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary).

Exception: If the employee was placed on a paid Military Stipend Leave after 4/3/08, the PLA row will not be updated.

Service Increments
  • Increment Code 0001: Effective 4/3/08, for employees who are entitled to an Increment based on the 3/31/07 Salary Schedule, OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the Increment, not to exceed the maximum salary rate, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/INC (Pay Rate Change/Increment).
  • Increment Code 0004: Effective 4/3/08, for employees who are entitled to a partial Increment to the maximum salary rate based on the employee's Fixed Incremented Salary (FIS), OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the FIS amount appearing on the Job Data Compensation page, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/CSL (Pay Rate Change/Correct Salary) provided the FIS amount is greater than the employee’s Comp Rate or equal to the maximum salary rate.
  • Increment Code 0006: Effective 4/3/08, for employees who are entitled to a partial Increment based on the employee's Fixed Incremented Salary (FIS), OSC will automatically insert a row in the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the FIS amount appearing on the Job Data Compensation page using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/INC (Pay Rate Change/Increment) provided the FIS amount is greater than the employee’s Comp Rate but less than or equal to the maximum salary rate.
Longevity Pay
  • Increment Code 2004: Effective 4/3/08, OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page for employees whose salary is equal to or greater than the maximum salary rate but less than Longevity Step 1 to reflect an increase to Longevity Step 1 from the 3/31/07 Salary Schedule, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Pay).
  • Increment Code 2000: Effective 4/3/08, OSC will insert a row on the employee's Job Data page for employees whose salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2 to reflect an increase to Longevity Step 2 from the 3/31/07 Salary Schedule, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/LGP (Pay Rate Change/Longevity Pay).
  • Increment Code 0408: Effective 4/3/08, OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page to reflect the FIS (Fixed Incremented Salary) amount on the Job Data Compensation page as long as the FIS amount is greater than the compensation rate on Job Data using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/379. If the FIS is blank, no automatic processing will be done by OSC.
  • Increment Code 0508: Effective 4/3/08 OSC will insert a row on the employee’s Job Data page for employees whose salary is equal to or greater than Longevity Step 1 but less than Longevity Step 2 to reflect an increase to Longevity Step 2 from the 3/31/07 Salary Schedule, using the Action/Reason code of Pay Rt Chg/373.
Longevity Bonus

Full-time employees who as of 4/1/08 have at least twenty (20) years of continuous service in the Unified Court System and have a performance rating of other than “Unsatisfactory” shall receive a bonus of $1,750. Part-time employees will receive prorated amounts.

Full-time employees who as of 4/1/08 have at least twenty-five (25) years of continuous service in the Unified Court System and have a performance rating of other than “Unsatisfactory” shall receive a bonus of $1,850. Part-time employees will receive prorated amounts.

OSC will automatically insert a row using the Earn Code JLO (Judicial Longevity Bonus) on the Additional Pay page, effective 4/3/08, for employees whose status on 4/1/08 is Active or Paid Leave of Absence [except those on PLA/MLS (Paid Leave of Absence/Military Stipend)] and whose Anniversary Date on the Job Data Compensation page is 3/31/1988 or earlier. The Judicial Longevity Bonus amount is $1,750 or $1,850, whichever is applicable, for full-time employees and will be prorated for part-time employees.

Automatic Update of Increment Codes

OSC will automatically update the increment codes, as appropriate, for employees in Pay Period 1L. Employees with Increment Codes 0001 or 0006 will have their increment codes updated on the INC row.

After the Increments are processed in Pay Period 1L, OSC will automatically update increment codes of employees with Increment Code 0003 on the Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of Data Change/CIC (Data Change/Correct Increment Code) effective 4/3/08 (Administration).

Current Code Updated to
0001 0001 if new salary is below the maximum Salary Rate 2008 if new salary is equal to the maximum Salary Rate
0003 0001 if salary is equal to or greater than Hiring Rate and less than the maximum Salary Rate
0006 0001 if the new salary is less than the maximum Salary Rate and the FIS amount will be zero

Agency Actions - Pay Period 1L

To report transactions in Pay Period 1, agencies must use the following procedures:

  • The agency must request the Action/Reason of Data Chg/USP (Data Change/Unsatisfactory Performance) effective 4/3/08 for all employees who are not entitled to an automatic increase or Judicial Longevity Payment due to an "Unsatisfactory" rating.  The increment code must be 0003.
  • For Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers effective prior to 4/3/08, the agency must not include the Service Increment or Longevity Increment in the Pay Rate field.  The increment code must be the April 2008 increment code.
  • For Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers effective on 4/3/08, the agency must include all Service or Longevity Increments in the Pay Rate field. The increment code 5555 must be reported.
  • For Pay Changes, Position Changes and Transfers effective after 4/3/08, the agency must include the Service Increment or Longevity Increment in the Pay Rate field. The agency must report the projected increment code for April 2009.
Time Entry

To report miscellaneous earnings automatically calculated by the system (i.e. overtime), agencies must enter multiple rows in the Time Entry page if the earnings dates being reported overlap the effective date of the salary increase.

The first row must be inserted with the inclusive dates prior to the effective date of the salary change. The second row must be inserted with the inclusive dates equal to and after the effective date of the salary change.

Agency Actions - Pay Period 2L

Beginning in Pay Period 2L, agencies must submit the appropriate Pay Changes for all eligible employees effective the date of the return to the payroll from Paid Leave of Absence with a Reason of MLS (Military Stipend), or a Leave without Pay (except for Workers’ Compensation Leave).

Increments and Longevity Payments

Agencies must submit a Pay Change, if applicable, using the Reason of INC (Increment) or LGP (Longevity) on the Job Action Request page for employees who did not receive an automatic payment but are due an increase, as identified on the following reports:

  • NHRP708 - Mass Increment Payment Exception Report
  • NHRP704 - Mass Increment Payment Report
Agency Update of Increment Codes

After the Increments and Longevity Payments are processed in Pay Period 1L, agencies must update the following increment codes, as appropriate, on the Job Data record using the Action/Reason code of Data Chg/CIC (Data Change/Correct Increment Code).

Current Code Updated to
0408 4 digit max year of current grade or 0512 if salary is between 1st and 2nd longevity steps
0508 4 digit max year of current grade
0004 04 with 2 digit year for future application of 37.9
0003 as a result of USP if the salary is equal to or greater than the maximum Salary Rate 4 digit max year of current grade
Longevity Bonus

To report a Longevity Bonus for an eligible employee who did not receive an automatic payment, enter the information on the Additional Pay page as follows:

Earnings Code: JLO
Effective Date 4/3/08*
OT Effective Date: Same as effective date
Annual Additional Earnings: Payment Amount
Earnings End Date: 4/1/09

*If an employee was eligible on 4/1/08 and on the payroll on 4/3/08, the agency must enter 4/3/08. If the employee was otherwise eligible and off the payroll on 4/3/08, enter the date the employee returned to the payroll.

Control-D Reports

The following report will be available after processing of Pay Period 25 is completed (3/26/08). The report identifies employees who will not receive an automatic Increment based on available information at the close of Pay Period 25. This will give agencies time to correct the employees’ records if necessary, before automatic processing takes place.

NHRP708 Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary will not be increased with one of the following messages:

Position and job do not match:
FIS missing
FIS at or below current

Note: The employee may have the correct number of days by the start of Pay Period 1. In those cases, the agency should not submit a Service Increment as the employee will be paid automatically.

The following reports are available for agency review after the automatic payments have been processed:

NHRP708 Mass Increment Payment Exception Report

This report identifies employees who did not receive an automatic Increment. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, FIS Amount and Increment Code. The report identifies the reason the employee’s salary was not increased with one of the following messages:

Position and Job do not match:
FIS missing
FIS at or below current

Note: OSC will count days from Pay Period 1 through Pay Period 26 to determine eligibility for a Service Increment. When reviewing this list, agencies should determine eligibility by counting days from 4/1/07 through 3/31/08.

NHRP704 Mass Salary Payments/Mass Increment Payment Report

Two generations of this report will be run. The first report identifies all employees who received the automatic Service Increment. The second report identifies all employees who received the Longevity Payment. Fields on the report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Pay Basis Code, Part-time Percentage, Salary, Action Reason and Increment Code.

NPAY770 One Time Payment Report

This report identifies all employees receiving an automatic payment for Earn Code JLO (Judicial Longevity Bonus). Fields on this report include EmplID, Employee Record Number, Employee Name, Earn Code, Grade, Bargaining Unit, Part-time Percentage and Payment Amount.

Questions

Questions about this bulletin may be directed to your Payroll Auditor.